SACRAMENTO - Competition heated up at day three of the 2010 USA National Junior Olympic Championships as Kennedy Blahnik unleashed a Youth Girls National discus record and two additional meet records were set. The action took place at Hughes Stadium on the campus of Sacramento City College in Sacramento, California. The event runs through Sunday, Aug. 1.
As the temperature rose in heat today, so did the competition. Defending Junior Olympic Youth Girls discus and shot put champion Kennedy Blahnik (Algoma, Wisc.) let loose a National discus record with a fourth-round throw of 43.69m/143-04. Her winning performance easily bettered the twenty-year-old record of 42.92m/140-10 set by Suzy Powell in 1990. Blahnik will look to bring the same heat on Saturday when she competes to defend her title in the Youth Girls shot put. Also winning the discus event, Katelyn Gochenour (Cornhusker Flyers, Omaha, Neb.) won the Midget Girls competition with a toss of 31.46m/103-02.
Otis Statum (3M TC) improved on his 5th place finish at the 2009 Junior Olympic Championships, crushing the Junior Olympic Championships meet record in the Midget Boys javelin throw with a winning toss of 53.30m/ 174-10. He broke the record (51.98m/170-6) on his first throw with a distance of 52.07m/170-10, but improved that mark on his fifth throw to finish 1.32m/4-4 farther than the record. Statum's teammate Bryan Morris also had a meet-record throw, finishing in second with a mark of 52.82m/173-3.
Another meet record was set by Anthony Dudley (El Paso, Texas) in the Youth Boys discus throw. Although fouling on his fifth try, Dudley secured his first place finish with a final record-setting toss of 58.32m/191-4.
Raymond McCormack (Lanier Running Club, Lanier, Ga.) was the only runner to break 15 minutes in the Young Men's 5,000m run, easily taking first by a margin of 15 seconds to finish in 14:45.40. Nick Hartle (PS Vegas Flyers, Las Vegas, Nev.) claimed the top spot in the Intermediate Boys 3,000m in 8:51.41, greatly improving on his 9th place finish in that event at the 2009 Junior Olympic Championships.
Yesterday's Youth Girls pentathlon runner-up Jasmyne Graham (Moreno Valley, Calif.) returned with fire today to win the Youth Girls long jump event (5.81m/19-0.75) and repeat her 2009 long jump title.
It was a tango for two in the Intermediate Girls high jump event between champion Mimieux Land (Ruff Riders TC, Albany, Ga.) and yesterday's heptathlon winner Hannah Hensley (Sandhills TC, Carthage, N.C.). While Hensley couldn't match her yesterday's performance of 1.75m/5-8.75 and needed three attempts to clear 1.70m/5-7, Land only needed one and claimed first. The Midget Girls high jump was decided by a jump off, with Vashti Cunningham (Southwest Stalli, Las Vegas, Nev.) beating Maya Huchinson (California Comets) with her 1.50m/4-11 clearance.
Other standout results:
The Youth Girls pole vault champion Chinne Okoronkwo (Kirkland TC, Kirkland, Wash.) won her event with a clearance of 3.15m/10-4, and Daloria Boone (Baldwin Jets, Milledgeville, Ga.) won the Bantam Girls long jump with a leap of 4.44m/14-7.
Johnny Carter (Team RAW) took first in the Young Men's triple jump with a leap of 15.05m/49-4.5, and Ben Glauser (Throw 1 Deep, Athens, Ga.) won the Young Men's shot put (18.92m/62-1)
Kayla Kovar (Ridgecrest, Ca.) out-tossed runner-up Meagan McKee (San Jose, Calif.) by one-half inch to win the Young Women's shot put (13.58m/44-06.75), while Carlan Naisant (Arizona Flames) claimed the top spot in the Bantam Boys javelin with a throw of 37.25m/122-2.
Yesterday's Youth Girls pentathlon winner and record setter Alexa Harmon-Thomas (Lawrence, Kan.) returned to take the Youth Girls high jump with a clearance of 1.65m/5-5.