Jamaica finally gets best of USA

It took Jamaica's runners until the final race of the fifth year of the USA vs. the World competition to finally beat the Americans at the Penn Relays.

In a thrilling climax to a rain-drenched Saturday, Jamaican anchor Davian Clarke held off a furious backstretch rally by Leonard Byrd of USA Blue, sending the always big contingent of Jamaican fans at Franklin Field into a frenzy. Jamaica finished in 3:02.63, with USA Blue second in 3:03.08. The Dominican Republic, with 2004 gold medalist in the 400m hurdles Felix Sanchez running the second leg, finished third in 3:03.11. The USA Red team was disqualified after Penn Relays veteran Tyree Washington got tangled up with the Bahamas' Chris Brown on the back turn of the second leg, and the spikes on Washington's shoes hit Jamaica's Sanjay Ayre.

"If Tyree didn't fall I think it would have been a very interesting race," Ayre said. "I think it was very unfortunate that he went down."

It was a particularly special race for Jamaica's Davian Clarke. ?Clarke has run at every Penn Relays since 1991, when he first came to Philadelpha with Kingston College, and he anchored this year's historic win on his 29th birthday.

"Penn Relays is a very big competition," Clarke said. "The biggest competition we have in Jamaica is the high school championships, and the next biggest thing we have is the Penn Relays."

Jamaica's victory was the last of many occasions in which the announced Franklin Field crowd of 44,612 came to its feet, despite the major competitions taking place during the day's heaviest rains.

The first big roar just after 2 p.m., with the announcement of the women's Olympic Development 4x100-meter relay starting lineups. Although the Jamaican fans did their best to cheer their compatriots on, the USA Red and Blue teams took the top two spots, leading to a loud chant of "U-S-A!" from the rest of the crowd. USA Red, led by 2004 Olympians Lauryn Williams and LaTasha Colander, finished first in 42.68 seconds. USA Blue, with fellow Olympians Angela Williams, Allyson Felix and Muna Lee, finished second in 43.15 seconds. Jamaica, with 2004 Olympic gold medalists Aleen Bailey and Tayna Lawrence, finished third with a time of 43.50.

In the men's 4x100m relay, a pair of 2004 Olympic gold medalists -- 200m champion Sean Crawford and 100m champion Justin Gatlin -- gained revenge for losing to Great Britain in this event at last year's Games. Their USA Red team finished first in 38.58, with the USA Blue team coming second in 38.60. Jamaica finished third in 39.38 seconds, and the Brits, whose team included Athens gold medalists Jason Gardner and Mark Lewis-Francis, finished fourth in 39.56 seconds.

Later in the day, the sprint medley runners made some headlines of their own. In the men's event, the USA Red team of Leo Bookman, Karron Conwright, Mitch Potter and Khadevis Robinson finished first in 3:12.10, the fifth-fastest time in Penn Relays history. Jamaica held the lead going into the 800m leg of the race, and the crowd made what was by far the loudest noise Franklin Field has heard in some time. But Alex Morgan fell into second place behind Robinson halfway around the first lap, and was passed by USA Blue team member Alan Webb when the trio reached the starting line again. South Africa made a late charge to finish second in 3:13.54, with Webb and company finishing a close third in 3:14.01.

In the women's sprint medley, Felix led the way to a 3:37.42 finish for the USA Red team, the fastest ever time in the event. Jamaica finished second in 3:37.87, while the USA Blue team -- which included Lauryn Williams and fellow Olympian Sheena Johnson -- finished last with a time of 4:12.66 thanks to a botched handoff from Connie Moore to Williams. Tanya Sinclair completed the 800-meter anchor leg for USA Red in 1:59.50.

In the 4x400m women's relays, the USA Red team left no doubt as to who the dominant team is. Dee Dee Trotter, Lashinda Demus, Nadia Davy and Sandie Richards finished first in 3:22.93, with Russia coming a distant second in 3:25.64. The USA Blue team finished fourth in 3:29.14 and Jamaica finished fifth in 3:29.94.

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