PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - St. Peter's Prep narrowly missed making the 4x100 Championship of America race, but did lead a parade of five New Jersey squads into the Northeast final on the opening day of the 129th Penn Relays presented by Toyota on Thursday at Franklin Field in front of a day ne record crowd of 27,376.
St. Peter's Prep's quartet of junior Neko Luzzi-Liggins, freshman Jevon Ledgister, senior Darryl Coleman, and junior Hunter Watson left lots of smoke on the track by dropping a 41.71 to place second in its heat with the 10th fastest time of the day, just one place away from making the 9-team COA race. The final team to make the COA was St. Elizabeth of Jamaica, who ran 41.49..
The time by St. Peter's Prep was the third fastest among U.S. teams and qualified them as the favorite to win Friday's Northeast 4x100 Championships, which is scheduled for 1:35 p.m.
The 9-team Northeast 4x100 final will be dominated by NJ squads as Bergen Catholic (41.86 in the trials), Winslow (41.86 in the trials), Paramus Catholic (41.89 in the trials), and Toms River North (41.92 in the trials) will also be contending for that title.
In case you're wondering, the state 4x100 record is 40.92, run by Winslow in 2003.