PHILADELPHIA, PA, April 26,
2026 - Grenadian athletes delivered a mix of standout performances and
tough lessons as the 130th staging of the Penn Relays concluded at Franklin
Field on Saturday.
Leading the way for Grenada were Nazzio
John and Jamora Alves, both of whom made significant impressions at one of the
world’s premier track and field meets.
John produced the highlight of
the weekend, capturing gold as part of the Ohio State University team in the
College Men’s 4x100 metres Championship of America. Running the opening leg,
the Grenadian sprinter set the tone for teammates Kyler Brown, Nick Biega, and
Marcus Brown, as the quartet stormed to victory in 39.56 seconds.
The triumph marked Ohio State’s
fourth title in the event, adding to their historic wins in 1929, 1931, and
1932.
John had also qualified for the
Men’s 100 metres Championship final after clocking 10.30 seconds in Friday’s
preliminaries. However, he was withdrawn from the final alongside teammate
Brown, with coach Rosalind Joseph opting to protect her athletes amid cold and
rainy conditions.
The final was won by Gary Card of
the University of Technology, Jamaica, in 10.34 seconds, slower than his
record-breaking 10.03 run in the preliminary round.
On the field, Alves, representing
St John's University, continued her consistent form with a fourth-place finish
in the College Women’s Discus Throw Championship. Battling adverse weather, she
recorded a best mark of 52.37 metres, narrowly missing a top-three podium
finish.
Alves was edged out of third
place by Morgan Graham, who produced a 52.52m effort in the fourth round, while
Ines Lopez of Arizona State University secured victory with a throw of 54.44
metres. The Grenadian had earlier claimed silver in the Shot Put, completing a
strong overall showing across the meet.
In the high school division, the Grenada Boys' Secondary School (GBSS) endured a challenging end to
their campaign.
After a promising 4x100m
performance on Friday, the Grenadian champions were unable to replicate that
form in the 4x400 metres relay, finishing last in their heat in 3:31.14.
Josh Thomas opened with a solid
51.58 split, handing over in sixth position among the nine teams. However, the
team slipped back on the second leg, where Kashay Stephen clocked 55.53
seconds, leaving too much ground to recover for Nathaniel Alfred (54.04) and
Karmal Joseph (50.00).
GBSS finished 202nd overall out
of 522 teams that completed the 4x400m event, while their 4x100m effort ranked
80th among 582 teams.
Meanwhile, Bullis School of
Maryland captured the highly anticipated High School Boys’ 4x400 metres
Championship of America title in 3:10.15, becoming the first American team to
win the event since Long Beach Polytechnic High School achieved the feat in
2007. The winning quartet of Zayden Saxton, Cameron Homer, Gideon Newton, and
Quincy Wilson had earlier signalled their intent with a blistering 3:09.73
performance.
Previous Story: Alves claims shot put silver while John advances to sprint finals and relay showdown
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