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Yong-Sung Leal of San Lorenzo CA was the only high school junior
on the USA junior men's team at Dublin. After the race, his father,
Bento Leal, called. Here is dad's report:
Greetings!
Today (March 24), Yong-Sung Leal (junior at Arroyo H.S. in San
Lorenzo) got 41st place out of 122 top runners from all over the
world at the World Cross Country Championships held in Dublin, Ireland
(the top 19 spots went to Africans -- wow!). He competed in the
Junior Men's 8K (5 mile) race. All runners must not reach the age
of 20 in the year 2002. Most of the runners were 18 and 19; Yong-Sung
just turned 17 in December, so he was one of the youngest runners.
I called him after the race and he told me he got kicked in the
knee at the start and was already behind, but crept up through the
race. Being that he had a strained left calf muscle during a training
run at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland about a week before he flew
out, and that limited his training in the final few days, he regrouped
and did great in Ireland. Frankly, I was hoping that he'd make the
top 50 against such an outstanding field -- and he did. He was the
only H.S. junior on the 6-man USA Junior Men's team. As a team,
they took 7th place among the other national teams competing.
Here's a quote from him that appeared at the USA Track & Field
website:
Yong Sung-Leal (San Leandro, California): "It was alright,
though the start wasn't very good. I couldn't hear the officials
in the back and before I knew it the gun went off and it was a big
surprise. Some guy pushed me and I got spiked by Zach (Sabatino,
a USA team member) in the knee and then I got knocked behind. Then
after the first lap I just worked to improve and catch other runners.
Besides the start I thought it was a good race. Overall it was a
good experience."
Way to go, Yong-Sung. We're proud of your great effort!
He'll return tomorrow (Monday) evening, and then it's back to school
and into track season which is already underway. His primary objectives
in track are to crack 9 minutes in the 3200 meter run and to successfully
defend his 3200 meter state title which he won at last year's CIF
State Championship meet in Sacramento on June 2. He won that race
as a sophomore in 9:00.49.
Here's some additional info:
1) 122 Runners from 34 nations competed in his Junior Men's 8K
(5 mile) race.
2) The USA Junior Men's Team placed 7th out of the 18 national
teams that competed in the race (a nation must field a minimum of
4 runners to have a team; 6 runners are the max.).
3) The Kenyan runners were awesome -- all 6 Kenyan runners placed
in the top 12. The order of team finish: 1. Kenya, 2. Ethiopia,
3. Uganda, 4. Japan, 5. Morocco, 6. Zamiba, 7. USA, 8. Algeria,
9. Sudan, 10. South Africa, 11. Great Britain, 12. Spain, 13. Italy,
14. Canada, 15. Belgium, 16. France, 17. Ireland, 18. Uzbekistan.
4) An Ethiopian won the race in 23:18. Yong-Sung was 41st in 25:30
(the 4th of the 6 USA runners)..
5) The weather was beautiful -- 58 degrees and cloudy. Ireland
is often rainy this time of year, so the conditions were excellent
for running.
6) Yong-Sung had a wonderful time meeting runners from all over
the world. Many of these runners will represent their nations in
future Olympics.
World XC Championships
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