Photo by: Jackson Polin
The Penn Relays High School 4x800m relay is one of the most competitive races of the whole meet, with 80 teams being accepted into the preliminary round and only the top 12 teams advancing on time to qualify for the Championship of America. The meet usually takes a sub-8-minute performance on the boys' side to qualify for the championship, and nearly a sub-9:10 performance on the girls' side to just make the final.
Boys' teams that can make COA:
In the first heat of boys, it looks like two schools from PA have a good shot to make it to the finals: Council Rock North and Conestoga. Both ran under 8 minutes during the indoor season.
The second heat also includes two major players from PA, with Haverford Township holding the indoor state record and going All-American indoors at NBNI, and Council Rock South placing 4th at the PTFCA Indoor State Championships. Haverford has to be the best shot PA has to bring home a wheel for the boys 4x8.
The 3rd heat of boys features three more teams that we think have a shot to make COA. Those teams consist of Upper Darby. Their anchor Joshua Sharp owns a PR of 1:50 and is currently PA #1 in the open 800m. Additionally, Plymouth Whitemarsh placed 2nd on the indoor circuit, and Penncrest has a long history of COA quals.
The final heat of boys' 4x8s has three more PA teams that have a shot of a COA berth: Episcopal Academy (with sophomore Kaleb Young and his PR of 1:52 on the anchor), Perkiomen Valley, who placed 3rd at the indoor state meet in the event, and Penn Wood who placed 8th at the indoor state meet in the 4x8.
Girls' teams that can make COA:
The first heat of girls has two teams that have a real shot to make COA - Upper Dublin, who placed 2nd at the indoor state meet, and Downingtown West, who placed 7th.
The second heat features a PA team with a chance to make the final. The quartet from Gwynedd-Mercy Academy chose to focus on the DMR indoors, but this is still a squad of half milers that can run a time to get into the final.
The third heat's got a 4x8 team that is PA's best shot at a girls 4x800m wheel. The squad from Penn Charter went All-American indoors with their 2nd place finish at NBNI and definitely have a real shot of not just making the final but winning the whole thing.
The final heat of girls' 4x8s holds the PA indoor state champions from Central Bucks East. They did so last year and are returning 3 of the 4 from that squad, while adding standout freshman Isha Awasthi. The other team from the final heat that has a shot to make the final is Central, who placed 3rd at the Indoor State Championships.