Aaron Ragin earned his trip to Houston in two weeks with a come-from-behind win in the 400 meters. Photo by Tim Hilt.
A number of Colorado middle and high school athletes qualified for the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships in Houston via the Region X meet held this weekend at the Air Force Academy.
Among the promising entries is decathlete Kyle Rex. Rex finished the finals 100 points above his seed 4968, thanks largely to a strong second day of competition. Rex took the top spot in five of ten events: the discus, the shot, pole vault, high jump, and the 1500m. Rex managed to get victories in both his least favorite and most favorite events, “My least favorite event, just like everyone is the 1500m, and my favorite event is the pole vault.”
Rex, who sits at the lower half of his 17-18 age group, is excited to be attending JO Nationals, but realizes that it may take another year to be elite at the national level.
“I feel that since I’m at the bottom of my age group my chances in Houston might not be that great, and since my brother is a decathlete I know what a good score is. Right now I’m right around 5000 and I’ll need a 6000 to be great.”
Also joining Rex will be sprinters Heide Baron, and Aaron Ragin. Both Baron and Ragin had mirrored finishes in Region Ten taking fourth in the 200m and victories in the 400m.
Baron (photo, left, from Saturday prelims by Alan Versaw) had control of the final heat of the 400m from the first turn., winning in 57.10 rolling over the rest of the field by an impressive 2.5 seconds.
The conditions at the meet will hopefully prepare Baron for Houston as temps on the track at the Air Force Academy pushed into the 90’s.
“It’s kind of uncomfortable running in the heat, but it keeps me warm I wasn’t tight at all for my race. So I think it’s a little better.”
The Pine Creek junior is shooting for a personal record in Houston of 55 seconds in the 400m.
Aaron Ragin had an emotional win in the 400m, as he let out a victorious roar after crossing the finish line in a personal record time of 48.14.
Due to some confusion about his event time Ragin arrived just 30 minutes before his event ran. Despite this and a subpar start Rajon managed to edge Stanford Cooper of Centennial Track Club by 0.11.
“I was doubting myself honestly because I knew I needed to get out and I didn’t get out like I would have like to. I recognized that around the 200m mark and just did what I had to do. I just had to finish strong.”
As formerly stated many athletes in the many age groups qualified for the pending competition in Houston. It is worth noting that Mariah Walker swept the discus and the shot and Chris Youngs swept the 100m and the 200m. It should be exciting to what these young people can accomplish in the Texas heat.