Just when you think the track and field season is officially done, guess what...it's not! The USATF National Junior Olympic T&F Championships take place this week, July 22-27, in Omaha, Nebraska. While many of the nation's top seniors have taken their break and now prepare for their collegiate squads, some younger prep athletes take a stab one more time at putting up big marks and improving their personal bests. MileSplit will bring you day-to-day highlights of each final and hopefully news of some new U.S. top ten performances.
USATF National Junior Olympic Coverage
USATF Junior Oly. Website / Meet Page
Sunday Highlights
The last day of the USATF National Junior Olympic T&F Championships impressed. Two national records were broken between the young women's 400m hurdles and the young men's 110m hurdles. In the longer event, Turquoise Thompson (Long Beach Poly, CA) won the event with a U.S. top 15 all-time performance, breaking the record set by Ebony Collins back in 2006 with her winning effort of 57.67.
Meanwhile, Booker Nunley (Garner, NC) won the 110m hurdle competition in 13.41. Not only did Nunley's mark break the event record, but it also put him in the U.S. top twelve all-time. Nunley has had a magical season in qualifying for the World Championships and earning a medal there. His performance Sunday was a great way to close out his prep career, heading to the University of South Carolina this fall.
Another top performance, while not a record, came from William Wynne (McEachern, GA). Wynne's show time and again this year that he is a dominating force in the 300m and 400m hurdle events and Sunday he proved that once again. Wynne nearly eclipsed the record of 2002 champ Kerron Clement, who's a '08 Olympian, winning in 49.84, just off of Clement's 49.77. Wynne's mark also gives him another mark in the U.S. top ten all-time performance lists.
In the 100m dash, Chalonda Goodman (Newnan, GA) and Ashley Collier (Fort Worth Dunbar, TX) continued their winning ways. Both athletes won the 200m dash final on Saturday, Goodman winning the young women's event and Collier winning the intermediate girls event. Well, both won convincingly on Sunday in the shorter sprint. Goodman crushed the field with an 11.36 effort, while Collier's Dunbar teammate Victoria Jordan placed second in 11.71. Collier, meanwhile, won her 100m dash event in 11.58.
D'Angelo Cherry (Mt. Zion, GA), Donique' Flemings (Saginaw, TX) and Jack Whitt (Norman, OK) also posted big marks. Cherry won the young men's 100m dash final with a top mark of 10.34. Flemings beat a strong young women's 100m hurdle field with her 13.58 effort, while Whitt earned another U.S. top ten performance with his young men's pole vault victory of 17-02.75.
Saturday Highlights
With much to talk about in the first handful of days of the USATF National Junior Olympic T&F Championships, Saturday provided the best results thus far, with only one more day of competition left. The top performance of the day came in the intermediate girls 800m dash, which saw New York's Phyllis Francis (Catherine McAuley, NY) run a new U.S. #3 time of 2:04.83.
PennTrackXC's Don Rich reports: Rising junior Phyllis Francis of Brooklyn's Catherine McAuley won the Intermediate Girls 800 meter run going away in a huge PR of 2:04.83. The mark is US#3 behind only Olympic Trials participants Chanelle Price, PA, and Laura Roesler, ND. The mark also breaks the national youth and Junior Olympic meet record of 2:06.64, set by Price in 2006.
Other top performances of the day came from incoming sophomore Elias Gedyon (Loyola, CA) and incoming senior Chalonda Goodman (Newnan, GA). Gedyon put up the top male performance of the day with his intermediate boys 800m victory in 1:51.91. Not only did Gedyon win the race by nearly three seconds, but he also just missed Michael Granville's freshman national record of 1:51.03.
Meanwhile, Goodman beat a star-studded field of young woman competitors in the 200m dash. Goodman's victory was even more impressive in the fact that she beat the field by nearly a second, taking home the title in 23.29 to Erica Alexander's (Clear Brook, TX) runner-up performance of 24.10. Coming in third was LaKeisha Williams (Ramsay, AL) in 24.15, Victoria Jordan (FW Dunbar, TX) in fourth at 24.16 and Amber Purvis (Benicia, CA) fifth in 24.33.
In the intermediate girls 200m dash event, Jordan's Forth Worth Dunbar (TX) teammate Ashley Collier won in an impressive 23.70, besting the field rather easily. Both Collier and Jordan anchored their Dallas Gold 4x100m relay squads to victory as well. Dallas Gold's intermediate girls team won in a new IG record of 45.51, while the YW squad won in 44.91.
On the young men's side, track powerhouse New Bern (NC) continued to show their strength. Fuquawn Greene won the 200m dash event in 21.51, besting Indiana's Matthew Terrell, who finished second in 21.70. Greene's incoming senior teammate Anthony Hendrix won the 800m dash in 1:52.69, besting the field with a strong finishing kick.
Other performances worth noting came from Hannah Carson (Dobson, AZ) in the intermidiate girls javelin throw and Worldwide Track Club (GA) in the young men's 4x100m relay. Carson won her event with a near record toss of 151-07, while Worldwide followed the lead of super-star sprinter D'Angelo Cherry to win the 4x100m relay in 40.32.
Friday Highlights
While Thursday provided some major fireworks in the young men's triple jump and shot put, seven seperate young men's and women's finals took place on Friday, leading to some great marks as well. One performance in particular stood out in the young men's and women's lists, that of Alitta Boyd (Moreau Catholic, CA).
Boyd, who's been a consistent force in the jumps all year, won the triple jump event with one of the top marks in the country this year. Her winning performance of 42-00.50 ranks her in the U.S. top three and ends her season on a very high note.
Elsewhere, Matt Kosecki (Humble, TX) and Demar Forbes (MLK, GA) each impressed in their respective events. Kosecki won the youth men's discus throw by twenty feet, taking home the top prize in 193-05. Forbes also smashed the competition, being the only athlete to clear 24 feet on the day and jump to a gold medal in 24-08.25.
Another prep athlete that won their respective event was Britney Waller (J.L. Mann, SC). Waller nearly PR'd in the young women's discus, taking home the title with a 148-11 mark. Waller beat sound competition, with her nearest challenger being Erin Pendleton (Woodmore, OH). Pendleton finished a strong second with a top throw of 143-05.
Thursday Highlights
Will Claye (Mountain Pointe, AZ) and Omar Craddock (Killeen, TX) have been two of the best triple jumpers in the country this season and on Thursday they proved it once again. Both jumped over fifty feet, with Claye besting Craddock 51-06.50 to 50-11.50. The most exciting part is that both athletes will return next season for their senior campaigns, both proving time and again that the fifty foot barrier is something they can crack any day of the week.
Elsewhere, the youth men's shot put posted some solid results. Corey Jones (Booneville, MO) bested a strong field of competitors, including Sean Tabor (OK) and Dan Block (Lake Park, IL). Jones launched the device 63-06, one of the best throws in the country this season and vaulted him to the gold by over three feet. Tabor finished second with a toss of 60-02.50, while Block finished third in 59-09.50.
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