It was a good weekend for several Kentucky High School athletes at the USATF Junior National Olympics at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. As already reported, Westside Elite of Kentucky won the 13-14 Boys 3200 Relay National Title. The team, made up of Stacey Eden, Ryan Gibson, Darius Berry, and Michael Caldwell, won with a time of 8:41.
Two of the team members went on to run as individuals in the 800m, 1500m, and 3000m. Michael Caldwell, who will be attending Butler this fall, finished fourth in the 13-14 Boys 800 Meter Run Final running a 2:02.40. Stacey Eden, who will be a freshman at Shelby County, finished fifth with a 4:21.80 in the 13-14 Boys 1500 Meter Run Final. He also finished seventh in the 3000 Meter Run Final with a time of 9:48.33.
Sharika Smith of Fulton County jumped her way to the silver medal in the Intermediate Girls Triple Jump. Her coach, Steve Spadafino, describes the event below:
"After the first round of 3 attempts, Sharika had moved from 11th seed to 2nd Place with a mark of 38-4, trailing Stewart in first by 4 inches and ahead of Basden by 5 inches. The top 8 athletes moved to the final round and received 3 additional jumps. Sharika improved on her best first round mark by jumping 38-10 (just two inches shy of her KY State Record) advancing past Stewart who couldn\'t improve on her previous mark of 38-8. Unfortunately, a fourth place Whitney Gipson pulled out a huge jump and went 39-4 to grab the gold which forced Sharika to settle for silver. If Sharika\'s mark ranks as one of the top in her age group for the year, she could be considered in the selection pool for the IAAF Youth World Championships."
Chelsea Brown (Butler), winner of four state titles in June, qualified for the finals in the Intermediate Girls 400 Meter Dash, running a career-best 55.61 to finish sixth. She finished 14th in the Girls Intermediate 200 Meter Dash. Thomas Canary (Lexington Catholic) ran two events at the USATF Junior Olympics. He ran an outstanding 1500 Meter Run time of 4:09.08 to finish fourth in the Boys Intermediate event. He also ran the 800 Meter Run with a time of 2:01.62 good for 20th. Other Kentucky performers who competed at the Junior Olympics were Lutisha Bowen (15th - Triple Jump) and Elliot Mattingly (12th – Discus). The Westside Elite Track Club 400 Meter Relay team consisting of Chelsea Brown, Lutisha Bowen, Jazzmine Jeter, and Tiffany Rogers finished seventh in the Intermediate Girls final with a time of 47.98.
No matter their finish, just qualifying is was a major accomplishment. The athletes had to compete and do well at the USATF State Meet and the USATF Region 6 Meet held in Ohio this summer. Congratulations to the Kentucky Track and Field athletes at this meet.