4x100m Relay Preview
Without a doubt this event is the one that is most dominated by Jamaican teams. Jamaican teams have won every single title on the boys side the past 20 years and all but two titles (2010-11) in the past 20 years on the girls side.
Leading the way on the boys side is Kingston College who enters the meet having won both the Class 1 and Class 2 titles at Champs. They went 39.78 in the Class 1 final and with a completely separate squad 40.62 in the Class 2 final.
Interestingly enough, Kingston did not have a single finalist in the Class 1 boys open 100m dash and just one finalist in the Class 2 boys final.
Don't count out "C-Bar" though as earlier in the season Calabar ran a blistering 39.60 to win the Gibson Relays back in February. At Champs though, they were disqualified.
In total, there have been four sub-40 teams this season between Kingston College, Calabar, Excelsior, and Jamaica College. All four should be in the hunt with clean exchanges.
Of these teams, all are fairly even on star talent as well. The one individual athlete to watch is Wolmer's Gary Card who ran a wind-legal 10.06 in the semis at Champs and also won the Class 1 title.
In the girls competition it looks to be a repeat of the past with Hydel and Edwin Allen entering almost equal. They are joined by Wolmer's and Holmwood Technical who have all dipped below 45 this season.
Hydel and Edwin Allen finished 1-2 at Champs and 2-1 at Gibson Relays both times running below 45 seconds. They have also finished 1-2 together four of the previous five years at Penn. These two teams have been so dominant that you'd have to go back a decade to find a team not named Hydel or Edwin Allen to have won this race.
If there is one thing benefiting one over the other it would be Edwin Allen's individual talent across the two classes but you can't count out Hydel's depth both in the relay and over 200m.
Individually, Lacovia's Sabrina Dockery is the fastest on the season with her 11.08 clocking at Champs.