Relays at the University of Pennsylvania's Franklin Field on Saturday.

Watched by a crowd of more than 40,000, the team, coached by Steve Burgess, finished behind Virginia's Fork Union Military Academy in the prep college division 4x400 metres.

Their silver medal-winning time of three minutes, 27 seconds included a personal best by Jason Robinson, who recorded a time of 51 seconds.

Robinson, who will be heading back to Bermuda on May 4 after a week's training at the University of Georgia, said that getting a medal had exceeded all his expectations.

"This is the biggest relay competition in the US. I have never seen so many people at a track meet before.'' Tony Bean, who recently competed in the CARIFTA Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, ran the anchor leg after being handed the baton by Robinson.

Laurie Joseph and Keenan Jourdan were the other members of the Bermuda squad, which finished five seconds behind the runaway winners.

"It was more than we could have hoped for,'' said a delighted Burgess, who also accompanied the Berkeley Institute team of Sharif Taylor, Atiba Tucker, Nakia Pearson and Keivon Richardson to the event.

The Berkeley team suffered a double disappointment when they were disqualified from the secondary schools 4x100 metres, and when Tucker fell and dropped the baton during the 4x400.

"It was a good experience for them, though,'' said Burgess. "Just to compete in front of such a large crowd is something they will remember for a long time.''