This article will be updated all through the week as results come in. Check in throughout the week to see how the Colorado entries fared at the national Junior Olympic meet.
July 28
Things were mostly quiet for the Colorado contingent on the first day of competition at the USATF National Junior Olympics. The lone results to be reported comes from the steeplechase events. In the young women's 2000 meter steeplechase, Ryan Russ, representing Ric Rojas Running, ran 7:42.64 to claim second place. The time represents an improvement of over 42 seconds from her regional qualifying time. In the intermediate boys 2000 meter steeplechase, Shane O`Donnell of Peak Distance finished third in 6:26.48, missing second by .02 seconds.
July 29
The Peak Distance young mens 4 X 800 relay team of Marc Hensley, Caleb Mostely, Shawn Dubbs, and Zachary Brown finished 14th with a time of 8:22.76.
No other Colorado results on this day, as most of the day was devoted to completion of multi-events. A more standard schedule of track and field events begins tomorrow.
July 30
Shawn Dubbs returned to the track today to run a 15:27.79 5000. Dubbs finished 7th among the young men in that event. Shane O'Donnell, also running for Peak Distance, did one better by finishing 6th in the intermediate boys 3000 meters. O'Donnell's time was 9:03.98.
Things did not go as well for the Colorado contingent in the first round of the 800 meters. Alex Dillenbeck, Denise Smith, Samantha Strempke, and Kirk Webb all failed to advance out of the round.
In the first round of the young men's 200, Jeremy Rankin advanced with a 21.28, while Evan Taylor failed to advance with a 22.10. Emily Elliott shared Taylor's fate with a 25.88 in the young women's 200.
July 31
It was a tough day for Colorado athletes seeking to advance to finals.
Katie Weber of Fort Collins Track Club was the first not to make the cut in the intermediate girls 100. 1500 meter runners Alex Paul, Erik Williams, and Shawn Dubbs (Dubbs was running his third race in as many days) each failed to make the cut for finals in the young men. The same fate awaited Evan Fortnery and Shane O`Donnell in the intermediate boys prelims. A similar disappointment greeted Elizabeth Jefferson and Emily Elliott in the young women's 400.
There were, however, a couple of bright spots on the day, both coming in the young men's category. Jeremy Rankin advanced out of the 100 meter prelims with the top qualifying time of 10.41. Derek McAllister of Colorado Springs Striders ran 48.04 to advance to the finals of the 400 meter dash.
August 1
Today brought what was, by far, the biggest news of the week for the Colorado contingent at the USATF National JO meet.
The news came from the track as Dominique Gerard, representing Zoom Track Club, ran 10:09.42 to win the intermediate girls 3000 meter run.
Elsewhere, Colorado's representatives were shut out of the 100 meter hurdles and 400 meter hurdles finals. Jeremy Rankin claimed fifth in the finals of the 200 meter dash. And, finally, David Krumland of Colorado Springs Striders went 10th in the pole vault with a 13-3.5 clearance.
The competition in Greensboro, NC, will conclude tomorrow.
August 2
Jeremy Rankin became Colorado's second individual titleist, winning the 100 meters in 10.80 with a -2.0 wind.
In young men's events, Pat Broski of Skywalkers went 14-3.25 to claim ninth in the pole vault and Derek McAllister had 48.52 to claim 6th in the 400.
In intermediate girls events, Dominique Gerard came back from a huge race in the 3000 on Saturday to claim fifth in the 1500 with a time of 4:46.15.
This concludes the summary of performances for Colorado athletes from the USATF National Junior Olympic competition.