Lake Brantley High School rising senior Maite Moscoso proved again why she is considered the top junior walker in the United States. She won the Young Women's division national championship at the USATF Junior Olympics on Tuesday in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Longwood native creamed the competition with a time of 14:58.77, which is just off her own national leading mark from earlier this month. Her nearest competitor was over a minute back in the race. Earlier this month at Disney World, Maite won the AAU Club Championship with the national leading and meet record 14:55.50 in the event.
While race walking is not popular in the United States, it is extremely popular in many Latin American countries. Moscoso got into the sport after her grandfather, a native of Ecuador, told her about it. The only Olympic medals ever awarded to Ecuador went to Jefferson Perez, who won gold in 1996 and silver in 2008 in the Mens 20K Race Walk.
After her summer track season concludes, Maite will resume base training for the Lake Brantley cross country team. She will be a vital part of their efforts on the course this fall, having a 19:58 personal best from last season.
On-Site Coverage
Our team is on location in Maryland for all seven days of events.
Video Interview from Last XC Season
More on Maite
- Matie Moscoso's Athlete Profile
- Moscoso: Race Walking is 100 Times Harder Than Running (Article, flrunners.com)
- Moscoso Headed to Race Walking World Cup in Moscow (Article, flrunners.com)