It was out of the ordinary for the University of Pennsylvania’s three-day Penn Relays track and field carnival to take place in sunny warm, and mostly dry weather. However, the dominance by Jamaican high school athletes at the university’s Franklin Field stadium was an expected and routine occurrence.
The 129th edition of the Penn Relays — featuring some the nation’s best collegiate and scholastic runners, jumpers and throwers — included impressive performances by visiting high school athletes from Jamaica. Paying homage to the Caribbean nation’s talented athletes, the cover of the 2025 Penn Relays program featured a color photo of an ecstatic Jody-Ann Daley of Hydel High School winning last year’s High School Girls’ 4×100 Championship of America (COA) relay.
Among the great 2025 races at the university’s Franklin Field stadium last month was the High School Boys’ 4×100 COA relay. Kingston, Jamaica’s Calabar H.S. recorded a stellar 39.79 time, just ahead of Washington, D.C.’s Archbishop John Carroll. The Calabar victory was reminiscent of the Caribbean nation’s 1964 Penn Relays debut. In that year, Kingston College’s high school boy’s quartet became the first Jamaican high school team to compete at Penn Relays, winning the 4×100 meter COA.
From the single Jamaican boys’ team in 1964, 50 high school boys and girls teams from the island nation were scheduled to compete this year. The not-for-profit Team Jamaica Bickle (TJB) hospitality organization — founded 30 years ago by Irwine Clare and Blane Stoddart to assist the ever-increasing number of visiting high school track athletes — has racked up a notable number of achievements while aiding the student-athletes with Jamaican food, hotel-airport transfers, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and other services.
Riding the wave of support from thousands of Jamaica and Jamaican American spectators who attend the Penn Relays annually, TJB lobbied for the Jamaican national flag and national banners of other participating Caribbean nations to join the array of flags atop Franklin Field. This year, flags flew for The Bahamas, Belize, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. TJB has also upgraded its on-site operations from an outdoor tent at the Relays to an indoors operation in the university’s Palestra basketball arena.
There are also economic achievements for the Penn Relays, beyond the admission fee paid by Jamaican track fans. Grace Foods — the Jamaica-based international manufacturer of Caribbean cuisine products and beverages — has become a major sponsor of the event.
Sean Phillips, a former 400-800-meter runner for Jamaica’s Vere Technical H.S. and an analyst for the FloTrack streaming service, says the enthusiastic support of all the track fans at the Penn Relays is a major factor in the longtime event’s success. “For the athletes, the support of the crowd is at its highest at the Penn Relays,” said Phillips. “Penn Relays influence is the best in America, for not just the junior athletes, but for the collegiate athletes as well.”
Film fest’s Carib focus
A record 125 films are being presented in the 32nd annual New York African Film Festival, running Wednesday through May 31. Screenings will take place at Film at Lincoln Center, the Mayles Cinema, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Among the productions are Hans Augustave’s “emotional Haitian-American coming-of-age film” “Nwa (Black)” and Rhys Aaron Lewis’ “Run Like We” on Thursday and Friday; “Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom” by Lebert Bethune and Lou de Lemos’ “The Legend of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg” on May 11 and 12; Joseph Hillel’s “At All Kosts” on May 18; and Mirta Desir’s “Jean & I” on May 28. For a full schedule and more information, visit africanfilmny.org.
Real-life legacy
Themes of legacy, lineage, and being an Afro-Latina cascade through the film short “PA’LANTE,” which makes its world premiere Saturday at the Brooklyn’s Crown Hill Theatre, 750 Nostrand Ave., starting at 2 p.m.
The film’s multi-talented writer-director Karisma Jay will be joined at the screening by members of the Afro-Latino cast of the production that’s inspired Jay’s real-life story. PA’LANTE tells the story of twin female track stars who learn that their great-grandmother was selected to represent Panama in the 1936 Olympics. For information and the wide range of ticket prices, visit bit.ly/palante-the-film.
