USA Nationals - Junior and Senior
June 23-26, 2005 at Carson CA

Previews

Preview - Marc Davis tells Who's Who and Who's going to run

Day 1 - J-Mee and Alex are top seeds in sprints

by Marc Davis

June 23, 2005 -- Tonight the festivities get underway at the 2005 US Outdoor Junior Track and Field Championships. We are here in Long Beach, California not too far away from the meet site at the Home Depot Center in city of Carson. The venue is amazing, as some of you might of seen on the television coverage a few weeks ago. This facility is the latest and greatest in sports complex design. And the rest of the week sees some of our young aspiring athletes competing for a valued position on this year’s Junior Pan American Championship team.

Many of the field events are decided today as early as high noon; including the high jump, pole vault, long jump and first days of the heptathlon and decathlon. Later tonight, we will see the finals in the 100 meters for boys and girls, the 3000 meters for girls, as well as the 10k for boys. As mentioned before, many of the NON champions and medalist are forgoing the rest of the summer competition. However, a lot of the bright stars from last week are still competing strong.

Alex “The Great” Anderson and J-mee Samuels will begin their dominance of the sprints tonight in the 100 meter event. Both Anderson and Samuels have entry times well ahead of their nearest competitors. So barring any major hiccups, they should roll through their respected finals tonight, and continue into the 200 meters tomorrow night. We will have race footage, and post-race interviews with both runners sometime this evening or by tomorrow.

As for the distance events tonight, the girls 3k and the boys’ 10k is a who’s who of college freshman. There seem to be more NON participants in the shorter distances later this week. In the girls 3k, there are 5 entry times of 10:00 or better. Leading the field is Nevada sophomore Marie Lawrence with a time of 9:47. Other top young runners in the race include Meghan Armstrong, as well as Chantelle Dron. With the weather expecting to be very cooperative, a lot of these girls could be looking at new personal records. The boys’ 10k final tonight is loaded with college freshman; including a trio of Eastern Michigan runners all with PR’s of 31 minutes or faster. Joshua Perrin leads that crew with an entry time of 29:44. Again, we will have video footage, and post-race notes as the races complete. Stay tuned for updates and chat room information for play-by-play action of the distance races.

Who's who, and who's going to run

Preview by Marc Davis

After an exciting 4 days of action at the Nike Outdoor High School National Track and Field Championships in Greensboro , North Carolina , the focus now shifts towards the Junior Championships and qualifying for this summer's Junior Pan American Games. A large contingency of recent gold medalists from NON will begin arriving later on this week to the Home Depot Center in Carson , CA . Their goal? Continue the success they have had all season, and hopefully earn a spot on this year's Pan Am team in Windsor , Ontario . Those championships will be held beginning July 28 th , and run through the July 31 st .

Leading the charge will be the King and Queen of high school sprints, J-mee Samuels and Alex �The Great� Anderson. Both Samuels and Anderson recently put on quite the show in the 100 and 200 meters respectively at NON. Samuels, from Winston-Salem , NC , cruised to double victories with times of 10.34 and 20.76. While �The Great� put on her own clinic with times of 11.39 and 23.05. As of final entry time, both runners are listed in the 100 and 200 meters. Samuels and Anderson are expected to do very well at the Junior Champs, as their nearest competitors, including the college freshmen in the events, are still many ticks behind.

In the distance events, newly crowned double champion himself, Rob Novak of Bordentown , NJ (open 800 meters and anchoring the 1600 meter sprint medley) comes into the Junior Champs with the best high school mark for 800 meters. Novak may get a challenge from Dartmouth College freshmen Michael Carmody, who has a mark just a step ahead. However, a lot of the attention will be on superstar Galen Rupp in the 1500 meters. Rupp, a freshman at the University of Oregon has been said to have a chance of winning any event he wishes to enter in from the 1500 meters up to the 10k. That may be because he owns every Junior (under 20) record from the 3k to the 10k. His nearest competitor is still over 3 seconds behind for an entry time. After running several outstanding times in the 5000 meters and 10k this season, Rupp drops down to an event he rarely runs. But he is no �freshman� to the shorter distances. Last year as a graduating senior in high school, Galen rolled to a personal record of 4:01 (3:44 approximately for 1500 meters).

On the women's side of the long distance events, Sarah Bowman is listed in both the 800 meters and 1500 meters. Bowman comes into the event off an incredible performance in the mile at NON. Her time of 4:36 put her #3 all time on the high school performance list, and #1 for times run in an all high school race. Which event she focuses on, if not both, is yet to be determined.

With many of the high school champions shutting down after this past weekend, we have decided to have a downsized version of coverage from what many saw here on Dyestat for NON. But make sure you still stayed tuned here for video highlights and interviews, live chat room play by play action, as well as post race results and notes.

 

 

           

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