FRANKLINFIELD, Philadelphia:

FOLLOWING a hectic Easter weekend where they were engaged in some fierce battles with their Caribbean neighbours at the Carifta Games in Montego Bay, Jamaican athletes will don their high-school colours starting tomorrow morning as the 117th staging of the Penn Relays get under way inside the Franklinfield Stadium in Pennsylvania.

The Jamaican athletes were in blistering form at the Carifta Games but it has come at a huge cost to some teams.

hard hit by injuries

Vere Technical and Bridgeport High are two of the schools which have been hard hit by injuries at the Carifta Games and some of their top athletes are likely to miss this week's competition.

Vere Technical's girls who were favoured to win both the 4x100 and 4x400-metre relays, have suffered the most as top sprinter Deandre Whitehorne, the Boys and Girls' Champs Class One 100-metre winner is definitely out, while Chantal Duncan, who was expected to play a key role in their 4x400-metre relay is also doubtful.

Whitehorne, after a blistering second leg in the record 44.08 seconds run by the girls' Under-20 sprint relay team, fell to the ground after handing over the baton while Duncan failed to finish in the Under-20 800 metres.

With Whitehorne, Vere would have been very strong and hard to beat in the sprint relay but in her absence the Michael Dyke-coached Edwin Allen High could take top prize. Several Edwin Allen athletes skipped the Carifta Games and will be fully rested. The athletes include Class One 400 and 800-metre champion Ristananna Tracey.

gallant anchor leg

Among the boys, Bridgeport, who were hoping for their first win at the meet, will surely miss the services of top man, the injury-prone Jazeel Murphy who was expected to play a pivotal role in his team's success but was whisked away by the Carifta Games' medical team after a gallant anchor leg in the boys' Under-20 4x100m.

Tomorrow's action will see the preliminary rounds of the girls' 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800-metre relays while a host of Jamaican teams are down to compete in individual events including the 400m hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump, shot put and javelin.

Edwin Allen's Tracy is well set to make up for her second-place finish last year in the 400-metre hurdles which will get under way at 9:20 a.m. (Ja time) as she is the leading contender here and is expected to also put her name in the record books in the event. She will be joined in the event by Vere Technical's Rushell Clayton.

- R.G.