PHILADELPHIA, April 30 -- As common as the sight of boisterous Jamaican fans is at the Penn Relays, there had never really been a celebration at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field quite like Saturday's. In a stunning victory, aided by a spill by the United States' top team, the Jamaicans edged the Americans' second team for a win in the 4x400-meter relay.
Before a crowd of 44,612, much of it waving distinctive green, gold and black Jamaican flags, Jamaica -- with Michael Blackwood, Sanjay Ayre, Jermaine Gonzales and Davian Clarke -- earned its first victory ever at the Penn Relays with a time of 3 minutes 2.63 seconds. The USA Blue team was right behind in 3:03.06.
"In Jamaica, the biggest meet of the year is the high school championships and the next biggest is the Penn Relays," Clarke said. "A lot of people in the stands are old track athletes who used to run track in the day. This is a very big deal for a lot of people."
The USA Red team, the supposed "A" team, did not finish after Tyree Washington fell on the last turn of his second leg. Washington appeared to clip the leg of the Bahamas' Chris Brown as he tried to pass him and take the lead. He was not injured, but he did not finish his leg.
The loss was the first for a United States men's team in a "USA vs. the World" competition. The USA Red team in the 4x100 had to pull out a comeback victory to win its race. Anchor leg Justin Gatlin gave his team the win in 39.58 by overcoming a five-meter deficit against the Blue team's anchor, J.J. Johnson.
The U.S. women's Red teams won in the 4x100 (Angela Daigle, Lauryn Williams, Inger Miller and LaTasha Colander) with a speedy time of 42.68 and the 4x400 (Dee Dee Trotter, Lashinda Demus, Sanya Richards and Monique Hennegan) in 3:22.53, a win of three seconds.
The Jamaican men stole the show, though. As he held off the U.S. Blue team's Leonard Byrd on the anchor leg, Clarke had remembered his loss as a high schooler for Kingston College in 1991.
"When we lost in 1991, when I was in high school, that was the first time in [seven years] that a Jamaican high school team had lost a 4 by 4," Clarke said. "So this is very gratifying to finally have a victory. We ended a streak with that team, and we started another streak right here with this team in 2005."
