‘Excited’ Taylor looks to shine at first Penns

Calabar High School's Christopher Taylor, who broke the 200m and 400m Class Two records at the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships, said he is looking forward to his first Penn Relays, while helping his school to again triumph over their main rivals - Kingston College (KC), Jamaica College (JC), and St Jago.

Penn Relays will be held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, from April 28-30.

"I feel very excited knowing that it's my first Penns and I am going to go out there and do the very best for my school," he said.

"Well, I am confident and I am in pretty good form going into the Penn Relays, so we will see what happens there," he continued in an interview following the FLOW Foundation's presentation of $4,030,000 to 28 high school and tertiary institutions to offset costs associated with competing at the event at their head office on Half-Way Tree Road on Tuesday.

RELAY CHAMPS

Last year, Calabar High shone brightest on the final day of the relay carnival. They captured the 4x100 metre in record time and the 4x400 metres.

With 16-year-old Taylor recently leading his Red Hills Road-based school to a sensational victory in the 4x400m in a time of 3:08.77 ahead of Kingston College, all eyes will, no doubt, be set on another battle between the long-time rivals.

Taylor, the Class Two 400m record holder, received the baton about 20 metres ahead of the Class One record holder, KC's Akeem Bloomfield, but saw the more experienced Bloomfield surge ahead coming into the straight.

However, Taylor would not be denied, and despite the KC captain's fast 44.5-split, the Calabar stand-out kept his composure and sprinted past the tiring Purples star with a 45.3-second split.

"Well, we fear no one, but we have to look up to everyone also. So yes, I am confident. We are looking to retain the title," Taylor told The Gleaner.