Danniel Thomas

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

DESPITE unfavourable conditions on yesterday's opening day of the 118th staging of the Penn Relays, inside the Franklin Field Stadium, it was a fantastic start for Jamaica's athletes as four athletes picked up wins, while most of the teams advanced to today's relay finals.

The Edwin Allen pair of Kimberly Williamson and Danniel Thomas picked up wins in the high jump and discus, while Chanice Porter of Manchester High and Vere Technical's Shardia Lawrence were successful in the long jump and triple jump, respectively.

broke old mark

But the performance of the day came in the girls' discus as Thomas upstaged her teammates with a personal best and record throw of 51.02 metres. She broke the old mark of 49.28 metres done by Alysan Holborson of North Carolina in 2009. There was also a personal best for Holmwood Technical's Gleneive Grange, who finished second with 50.33 metres.

Tara-Sue Barnett had to settle for third with a distance of 49.74 metres.

Thomas was delighted with the win.

"I am excited to know that it is my final year competing for Edwin Allen, and to leave on a winning note makes me even happier," said Thomas, who said she was not surprised by the win.

In the high jump, Williamson came close to the record of 1.85 metres with a leap of 1.83 metres to get the better of Wolmer's Girls' Shanice Hall, who finished second with 1.79 metres. Despite winning, Williamson was a bit disappointed.

"I wanted to break the record, but maybe it wasn't my day to do so, but I will take the win."

Porter had a winning leap of 5.92 metres to edge out Kimberly Golding of Convent of Mercy, Alpha, who finished a close second with 5.91 metres.

Competing in her first Penn Relays, young Lawrence of Vere Technical had a winning jump of 12.40 metres to win the girls' triple jump.

Yesterday also saw preliminary-round action in the 4x100, 4x400 and 4x800 metres relays where the Jamaican teams did very well, with Edwin Allen leading the way.