US Junior Nationals
June 25-27, 2004 at College Station TX

Day 2 reports

Mike Kennedy on DyeStatCal - USATF

Caitlin Chock crushes 5k field in 16:10.60 - new national record!
Galen Rupp beats Josh McDougal by 9 seconds in 5k. High schoolers Ashley Owens, Latavia Thomas, Nicole Leach, Tim Harris, Nick Brown, Lashawn Merritt, Galen Rupp, Mark Taylor and Zach Pollinger also win.

  • M-5000: OR sr Galen Rupp 14:16.21 pulls away from Josh McDougal NY 14:24.88 with 800 meters to go. Foot Locker champ Matt Withrow IL is third in 14:54.67. All three miss the WJC entry standard (14:15).
    Ricky Quintana's live report on TrackTalk:
    • start is pretty slow, 37-38 at 200m, McDougal leading Galen 3rd
    • 400m at 68
    • 800m- 2:18 McDougal continuing to lead. Rupp on shoulder.
    • 1200m- 3:26 - McDougal, Rupp and Withrow moving up
    • 1600m- 4:32 - McDougal, Rupp, Withrow . . 30m then pack.
    • 2000m 5:42 - McDougal and Rupp 15m ahead of Withrow, then 15m to pack.
    • 2400 6:48 - Josh and Galen 25m ahead of Withrow, then 80m to pack.
    • 2800 8:01 - 14:10 pace - Josh first, Rupp half stride behind, then 20m to Withrow (7 seconds behind Josh).
    • 3000m 8:37 - McDougal and Rupp.
    • 3200m 9:10 - pack is at 9:39.
    • 3600m 10:18 - still McDougal and Rupp - Withrow 10:28.
    • 4200m - Rupp takes lead, pulling away slowly.
    • 4400m - 12:37
    • 4600m - 13:10 Rupp, 4 seconds ahead of McDougal.
    • 5000m - Rupp 14:16.21, McDougal 14:24.88. Withrow 14:54.67
  • W-5000: Caitlin Chock CA 16:10.60, who recently ascended to US#3 all time at 3200 meters (9:58.51), broke the US high school 5000 meter record in Jack Shepard's HIGH SCHOOL TRACK annual (10:13.7 by Mary Shea NC in 1979). Chock won by 86 seconds and was nearly 20 seconds better than the WJC entry standard (16:30).
    Mike Kennedy's on-site report on Chock's race:
    "The women's 5,000 final, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. Friday night, but rescheduled for Saturday morning at 9:05, was run under almost ideal conditions. With a heavy cloud cover and temperatures in the low 70's Caitlin Chock of Granite Bay took off at a torrid pace passing 3,000 meters in 9:37.0 and 3,200 in 10:15.5 before winning the race in a new high school record of 16:10.60."
  • W-100: CO sr Ashley Owens 11.12 +2.5. Great Southwest and Colorado champ beats Allyson Felix 11.23, Shalonda Solomon 11.36, Jasmine Baldwin 11.37 and Cleo Tyson 11.39.
  • M-100: U. Wisconsin's Demi Omole 10.14 +3.2. TX sr Ivory Williams 10.30 is second and MS sr Trell Kimmons 10.34 third.
  • M-400: VA sr Lashawn Merritt 46.80 takes first step toward repeating 200-400 double at AOC Raleigh
  • W-400: Georgia Tech's Ashlee Kidd 52.91 wins photo finish over NY sr Natasha Hastings 52.92.
  • M-800: FL sr Tim Harris, the only high school runner in the final, wins in 1:50.82.
  • W-800: PA soph Latavia Thomas 2:08.11 wins, with MD freshman Devon Williams 2:08.75 a close second and KS sr Trisa Nickoley third in 2:10.18.
  • W-400H: Penn Relays champ Nicole Leach, West Catholic PA jr, wins in 58.48, comfortably ahead of Clemson freshman Christina Smith 59.53.
  • M-LJ: IL state champ Nicholas Brown 24-4.25 +0.0, beating Paul Hubbard 24-4.25 on the tie breaker. Hubbard got his mark on his first jump and then fouled five straight times.
  • M-Jav: LA sr Mark Taylor 214-10. Golden West champ catches U. Washington's Brian Harris 211-8 on his last throw, improving 14 feet from his previous best effort here.
  • M-10k Walk: AOC Raleigh champ Zachary Pollinger, NJ sr, 48:22.40.
  • Decathlon: U. Tennessee swept 1-2. Chris Helwick 7358 swept the last three events to pass Jangy Addy 7102. TX jr Adam Fretwell, the Great Southwest champ, was third with 7045 points.

USATF
Chock breaks 25-year-old high school record

by Melvin Jackson,
USATF Communications Coordinator

University of Richmond-bound Caitlin Chock, of Granite Bay HS, Roseville CA, ran 16 minutes, 10.60 seconds to better the U.S. high school record of 16:13.7 set in 1979 by Mary Shea of Raleigh, N.C., and set a Frank G. Anderson track and field facility record.

"Going into my race, I wanted to get the qualifying time, so I was going to go out kind of strong," said Chock. "I'm really excited to represent the U.S., I've been shooting for this all season, it's a really big honor." The 18-year-old Roseville, Calif., native also bettered the USA Junior Championships record of 16:28.60 set in 2003 by Amy Hastings. University of Arkansas' Sarah Saffa finished second in 17:36.72.

Ashley Owens upset former high school phenom Allyson Felix in the women's 100m dash. The UNLV-bound Owens ran an 11.12 to secure her spot on the USA World junior squad, while Felix finished in 11.23.

In the men's decathlon, Tennessee sophomore Chris Helwick swept the last three events and won his first USA Junior Championship, scoring 7358 points. Jangy Addy was second (7102).

Kentucky high school state indoor and outdoor pole vault record holder, Chip Heuser won the men's pole vault with a clearance of 5.00 meters/16 feet, 4.75 inches. "Each year at Junior Nationals has been stiff, stiff competition. This year is different," said Heuser. "The pole vault turned into a marathon due to the rain. Everyone was jumping really well last night, this morning we were all kind of dead.

Zach Pollinger was pretty confident entering the men's 10,000m race walk and finished first in a time of 48 minutes, 22.40 seconds. "I knew I was not going to get a PR because I was just trying to place," said Pollinger. "I tried to loosen up after two-miles and began to feel pretty confident as I pulled the lap splits down and opened up the gap." Jared Swehosky of Stayton High School (Ore.) was second with a time of 48:39.57.

Nicholas Brown won the men's long jump with a mark of 7.42m/24-4.25 followed by the University of Wisconsin's Paul Hubbard finished second leaping 7.42m/24-4.25 (+2.0 wind). Brown hit his mark on the first jump, then fouled five consecutive times. However, Norris Frederick will represent the U.S., as he made the qualifying standard at the Golden West meet in Sacramento, Calif., June 12. Norris, a freshman at the University of Washington, jumped 7.14m/23-5.25 to finish seventh in today's competition.

In the men's 10,000m run, James Hower won in 31:21.13 followed by William & Mary's Keith Bechtol (31:24.33), and LaSalle University's Sean Quigley (31:33.58) finishing in third-place.

In the day's other events, Nicole Leach of Philadelphia, Pa., won the women's 400m hurdles (58.48) with Christina Smith finishing second in 59.53. In the women's 800m, LaTavia Thomas placed first with a time of 2:08.11. UCLA sophomore Brandon Johnson won the men's 400m hurdles with a time of 49.59 seconds, while 2004 NCAA outdoor 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement finished second in 50.86. 2003 Pan Am Junior 5,000m gold medalist Galen Rupp won the men's 5,000m, finishing in 14:16.21.

More than 700 of the country's finest athletes ages 19 and under are competing for the right to represent Team USA at the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships July 13-18 in Grosseto, Italy.

Competition concludes Sunday.

 

 

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