Local youth runners qualify for National Junior Olympics
August 6, 2008
By J.B. Wogan
Several members of the Issaquah Gliders and Plateau Runners Track clubs qualified for the USA Track & Field’s largest meet: the National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, held in Omaha, Neb. July 22-27.
Glider member Andrew Matthews, a rising freshman at the Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus, finished 24th in the 400-meter dash in the young boys division. His time was 56.51 seconds.
Sophie Cantine, a Newcastle resident who trains with the Gliders, finished 18th in the 1,500 run for the bantam girls division. Her time was 5:54.54. Her performance at the national meet was a 10.62-second improvement from her qualifying time of 6:05.16.
Skyline High School’s Rachael Butenko qualified for the meet with a triple jump distance of 36 feet, 1.86 inches in the young women’s division. In Omaha, she finished 24th, landing a jump of 34-10 1/2.
The Plateau Runners Track Club had five members qualify for the meet, though none opted to travel to Omaha to compete. Those athletes were Kirsten Flindt, Michael Flindt, Maddie Starnes, Megan Batty and Katelyn Steen.
More than 100,000 athletes attempt to qualify for about 3,000 spots at the national meet, according to Jill Geer, a USA Track & Field spokesperson.
Geer said the Junior Olympics program has had a proud history of top track stars including Lauryn Williams and Allyson Felix.
Williams was the 2004 silver medalist in the 100-meter dash and the 2005 world champion in the same event.
Felix, a two-time world champion in the 200 dash, was also the 2004 silver medalist in that event.
To qualify for the national meet, local athletes entered the Region 13 Junior Olympic Track & Field
Championships at Spokane Falls Community College July 12-13. Region 13 includes Alaska, Oregon, as well as the Pacific and Inland Northwest regions.
For a complete list of results at the meet, visit
www.usatf.org/events/2008/USATFJuniorOlympicTFChampionships/results/regional/13.asp.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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