PENN RELAY: Calabar's Michael O'Hara and Wolmer's Jaheel Hyde barred from competing at high school section at Penn Relays

BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  Tuesday, April 14, 2015    

Top Jamaican High schools Calabar High and Wolmer's Boys' were dealt massive blows yesterday after Michael O'Hara and Jaheel Hyde were ruled ineligible to compete in the high school section of the Penn Relays Carnival set to be staged at Franklin Field, Pennsylvania, April 23-25.

(L) O’HARA…was expected to play a leading role
 for Calabar High School. (R) HYDE… was down to run
 on Wolmer’s Boys’ 4x100m team.

Both athletes, who signed endorsement contracts for rival telecommunications companies Digicel and LIME, were expected to play crucial roles in their high school teams that will take part at the relay carnival next weekend.

A release from the local high school sports umbrella agency, the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) yesterday said the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association (PIAA), the state High School governing body which sanctions the Penn Relays High Schools events, had ruled both athletes ineligible after getting benefits "not available to all the students in their schools".

The release from ISSA said, "In a communiqué to ISSA, the PIAA said both athletes are deemed to have received benefits related to their athletic skills and performances which are not available to all students at their high schools. On this basis both athletes cannot represent their respective schools at the 2015 Penn Relays."

Hyde, who is the defending champion for the high school boys 400m hurdles and who was down to run on Wolmer's Boys' 4x100m team, is a brand ambassador for LIME, while O'Hara, who attends Calabar High had signed with Digicel.

Additionally, another company had announced this year that they had given O'Hara a scholarship to cover the last two years of his high school education.

Under the rules governing high schools and college sports in the United States, athletes are not allowed to benefit more than their teammates.

In the college system, athletes could lose scholarships if they are found to be in breach of the extra benefits rule and only allowed to take gifts, monetary or otherwise, from immediate family members. more