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2008 IAAF World Junior
Championships

July 8-13, 2008 - Bydgoszcz, Poland

A Look Back … and Forward

Analysis by Mike Kennedy, DyeStatCal.com

By almost any measure, the performance of the men’s and women’s team at the 12th Annual World Junior championships at Bydgoszcz, Poland, was outstanding. The United States totaled 11 gold medals, four silver and three bronze medals, for a total of 17. Those numbers would rank the 2008 team behind only the 2002 team that won 13 gold medals and 21 medals overall in Jamaica.

Since 2000, when the U.S. sent a minimal team to Santiago, Chile, the U.S. has won the gold medal count and the overall medal total in three of the last four championships. In addition, if you scored this year’s meet for eight places, the U.S. was first with 174 points, followed by Germany with 122, Kenya with 102, Russia with 96 and Ethiopia with 86.

Generally speaking, the U.S. got good overall performances in the events that it has had success in the past, and that was more than supplemented by performances in events where the U.S. has had little or no success.


Team USA's most dramatic success may have been the 1-2 in the hammer by Henning and McCullough. Photos Joy Kamani
The relays have always been the bedrock of U.S. success and 2008 was not exception. The U.S. men won the 4 x 100 relay, becoming the fourth-fastest U.S. and world junior team of all time, and took the 4 x 400 relay by almost two seconds. The U.S. women won the 4 x 100 relay to become the equal-sixth fastest team of all time and took the 4 x 400 relay. In the preliminaries, the United States team became the fourth fastest junior team of all time.

The hurdles were a shining example the U.S. continuing its dominance in a specific area. Jeshua Anderson of Washington St. and Johnny Dutch of South Carolina were one-two in the men’s 400 hurdles and Booker Nunley was second in the 110 high hurdles. Takecia Jameson of Miami won the women’s 400 hurdles and Teona Rodgers of Florida St. won the 100 hurdles.

In the men’s sprints, the U.S. men got a one-three finish from Marcus Boyd and O’Neal Wilder in the 400 and the bronze medal from Terrell Wilks in the 100. In the women’s sprints, Jeneba Tarmoh of Tennessee won the 100, Jessica Beard of Texas A&M and Lanie Whittaker of Washington (Miami, Fl.) were second and seventh in the 400, and Tiffany Townsend of Baylor was fifth in the 200.


The most surprising results for the U.S. came in the men’s hammer and the women’s distances.

In the first 11 editions of the World Junior Championships, the best U.S. finish in the men’s hammer was by Walter Henning of St. Anthony’s (South Huntington, N.Y.), who placed eighth in 2006. In Bydgoszcz, Henning, who was at North Carolina earlier this year before transferring to Louisiana St., was the winner with an American Junior record and Conor McCullough, a junior at Chaminade High in West Hills (Ca.), was second at 248-11 for a National High School record and the No. 2 American Junior performer of all time. What’s more, McCullough will be eligible for the 13th World Junior championships in Canada in 2010.

Since the first World Junior championships in 1986, no U.S. woman had cracked the top eight in either the 1,500 or the 3,000. In Bydgoszcz, it happened three times. Jordan Hasay of Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo, Ca.), who won the United States’ first World Youth championship distance medal last year when she finished second in the 1,500, was fourth and Alex Kosinski of Oregon was sixth in the 1,500. Laurynne Chetelat of Davis (Ca.) was sixth in the 3,000 at 9:15.11 to become the sixth fastest prep of all time. Evan Jager of Wisconsin was seventh in the men’s 1,500.

In the men’s field events, Marquise Goodwin of Rowlett (Tx.) won the long jump and Christian Taylor of Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Ga.) was seventh. Taylor was also 8th in the triple jump, where he won a World Youth title last year, with Austin Davis of North Carolina two spots ahead of him in 6th. Joseph Berry of Tennessee was seventh in the pole vault.

In the women’s pole vault, the U.S. had never placed in the top eight. This year, Rachel Laurent of Vanderbilt Catholic (Houma, La.) was fourth and Leslie Brost of Watertown (S.D.) tied for eighth. In the discus, Anastasia Jelmini of Shafter (Ca.) was seventh. Ryann Krais of Methacton (Norristown, Pa.) was ninth in the Heptathlon.


So, after the successes of 2008
… no problems, no concerns, full speed ahead, blue skies all the way to the next World Junior Championships in 2010? Not quite. Here are a few things that athletes, coaches, parents and the USATF administration might well consider in the next two years that might help continue the U.S. success.
  • 1. The USATF (the governing body for track and field in the United States) has one of the most successful national sports programs going at the Junior level, but almost no one is aware of it outside of the people who are actually on the team. As an example, the current World Junior championship team was selected the weekend of June 19-22. The team had to be submitted the IAAF with in a couple of days of the end of the meet. Unfortunately, two weeks went by before the team was posted on its web site.
This meant that there was no opportunity to publicize who was on the team and publicize the team’s prospects at the World Junior Championships. Publicity is the type of thing that potential sponsors and advertisers look for when they are making decision on where to put their money. If they do not see an effort to publicize a sport (in this case the junior program), they are less likely to want to be involved with that product. In addition, it does not allow web sites such as DyeStat.com, MileSplit.com and TrackShark.com to inform its audience about what’s happening.

The internet is the most effective way of communicating with a targeted market. Most media outlets might be aware of an athlete in its immediate area, but there could be other athletes in the surrounding area that they would also have interest in, but would not know about because a team roster has not been made available. It is all about getting the word out as soon as possible to as wide an audience as possible. Just think of how many athletes, coaches and parents, who have kids involved with track and field, who would like to see what athletes are doing, learn about their exploits and be motivated to be “like Mike” and want to, in the future, have similar experiences.
  • 2. Be sure that there is not a scheduling conflict involving high quality meets. This year, high school athletes were put in the position of having to chose between competing at the U.S. Junior National championships and the Nike Outdoor Nationals, which is the best high school meet in the nation. As a result, several who would have probably made the U.S. team that completed in World Junior championships were at the NON.
  • 3. Athletes, coaches and parents should think twice about the choices they make with regard to attending specific meets. This is especially evident when the Olympic Trials are held. The example this year concerns athletes choosing to go to the Olympic trials after passing up the U.S. Junior championships at Columbus, Ohio—the qualifying meet for the World Junior championships in Poland. In many cases, by choosing the Olympic Trials and not going to the U.S. Junior nationals, there is the appearance of choosing “immediate gratification” rather than the incredible benefits that can be gained by competing on an international team.
Competition at the international level on a national team is a rare opportunity and completely different than any experience high school athletes and college freshman have a chance to experience. The atmosphere is completely different from any other competition, from the time you arrive at the competition site until you actually compete. The first time that an athlete, especially a young athlete, goes through being on an international team, it is a real learning experience and almost always leads to a greatly improved performance the second time that athletes, at any level, goes through that experience. It is an opportunity that can’t be gained in any other way except by experiencing it and once the opportunity has passed, it is lost.

Here are couple of examples of what can be gained by being involved in international team competition. In 2007, Conor McCullough of Chaminade (West Hills, Ca.) was third in the World Youth championships in his first-ever international team competition. This year he was second in the World Junior Championships competition against athletes who were as much at two years his senior. In 2004, two athletes went one-two in the same event at the U.S. Junior Nationals. One athlete turned down the opportunity to complete on the U.S. team that completed in the World Junior Championships in Italy to compete in the Olympic Trials. The other athlete competed in the World Junior Championships and reached the final. Today, the athlete who completed in the Olympic trials is no longer in track. The athlete who went to World Junior meet is among the best in the U.S.
  • 4. The USATF has done great job in developing the sprints, hurdles and horizontal jumps and that trend is likely to continue. The USATF should also be proud of the progress that has been made in events where there has not always been a great deal of success. But successes in areas like distances, vertical jumps and weights, are likely to continue only if the USATF continues to reach out and identify athletes in these areas and kept them informed about what the USATF is all about and what opportunities USATF can provide.
  • 5. There were a number of athletes who qualified for the World Junior team that did not make the trip to Poland because they did not have a passport.  There has to be a concerted effort to get the word out to all athletes, coaches and parents that all athletes who might have an opportunity to compete on an international need to get a passport at the earliest possible time.  A passport is good for 10 years.  There is no excuse for college coaches not insisting that their athletes get a passport. You never know when you might have a need for a passport.

    The moment that the USATF creates a web site for a Junior championship or a Youth championship, there needs to be link set up that directs the reader to read a particular link before proceeding.  That link would be a statement that says all athletes must have a passport prior to arriving at the Junior or Youth championships or they will not be allowed to travel, even if they make the team.  In the past this information has been included but it has not been emphasized or it has not been prominent enough.  It is just criminal if an athlete puts forth all of the effort and makes the team, and then is not able to travel because a coach, parent or advisor has not acted ahead of time to see that the athlete has a passport.


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