John Dye's preview
It could be a green and gold year
The Jamaica vs. USA theme of every Penn Relays will tilt toward Jamaica this year. Get used to green and gold frenzy and roars of WHOOP! WHOOP! as runners round the last turn of sprint relays. The US has been on a roll the past few years, mainly due to heroics by Poly Long Beach CA and Boys and Girls NY. But in the words of a Poly coach at Arcadia 3 weeks ago, "We lost our hammer." (graduated anchor star Shalonda Solomon). Jamaica will be heavily favored in all four sprint relays, boys and girls 4x100 and 4x400 in the Championship of America finals. The red, white and blue will fly high in distance events and possibly the girls 400 meter hurdles, where home town favorite Nicole Leach will defend her title.
Also see Walt Murphy's event-by-event preview. Email Walt for comments or to subscribe to Eastern Track. .

This is the 111th running of this monster meet, which qualifies for most of the superlatives that can be said about a track meet anywhere in the world. More than 100,000 people attend the three days, with nearly 50,000 on hand Saturday for the Championship of American finals and elite USA against the world relays. A disproportionate number of the fans will be from Jamaica, a sea of green and gold screaming for their young athletes against the Americans. The Jamaican rivalry works both ways. The Syosset NY boys 4x800 relay team, which set an American indoor record in February, has lived with a Jamaican flag at every practice to remind them of their goal for the season -- beat the Jamaicans at Penn. [John Dye]

Schedule

complete schedule on Penn Relays site

Thursday - All girls. 400H finals starts action in the morning, followed by hours of relay heats in 4x800, 4x100, and 4x400. Climax of the day are three distance events between 6:25 and 6:45 pm -- distance medley, mile, and 3000 meters. Field events include JT, PV, LJ, TJ, HJ and SP finals.
Friday - Girls championship finals in 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800, and Boys 4x100 and 4x800 heats. Field events include girls DT and boys JT and SP. The day climaxes with the boys distance events -- DMR, mile and 3000 meters -- and the girls 4x400 championship, all between 5:45 and 6:15 pm.
Saturday - All boys. Half a day of boys 4x400 heats will be followed by championship finals in boys 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 in the afternoon. Also in the morning are the boys 400m hurdles and LJ, TJ, DT, HJ and PV.

Prior Years on DyeStat

2004 - US sweeps boys relays, but Jamaican girls topple Poly Long Beach in 4x100 in meet record time, with Poly getting a US record in second place. Nicole Leach sets meet record in 400H and Kevin Craddock wins the boys 400H.

2004 - Nicole Leach sets a Penn Relays record of 57.84 in the 400 meter hurdles. She returns this year to defend her title. - photo by Vic Sailer / PhotoRun   2004 - Simone Facey (left) finishes Vere Tech's meet record 4x100 win in 44.32, with Poly's Shalonda Solomon on right setting a US record of 44.50. - photo by John Dye

2003 - Poly Long Beach CA wins four relays -- boys 4x400 and 4x800 and girls 4x100 and 4x100.

2002 - Boys & Girls girls set US record in 4x800, Holmwood Tech boys get big double

2001 - Alan Webb's South Lakes VA and Boys & Girls NY girls sweep 4x800 and DMR. Dathan Ritzenhein runs 13:51.69 5k.

2000 - San Lorenzo Valley CA girls 11:41.28 DMR is US record. St. Malachy's of Ireland wins DMR for fourth straight year, despite Alan Webb 's sub-4 minute anchor.

1999 - Northwestern MD boys win 4x400 in 3:10.35. Rickey Harris wins 400H in 50.63.

1998 - Boys and Girls NY boys 7:41.12 4x800.

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John Dye - founder and editor in chief
Donna Dye - features editor
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left, John and Donna Dye