AAU Jr OG Region 15 NE, SE, SC, East Central MO Entries


The pinnacle of the track and field season for many youth athletes and even the pinnacle of many track and field careers, the AAU Junior Olympic Games is here. The eight-day national championship is held annually at the end of July and beginning of August. This year's edition is held at the Irwin Belk track and field facility at the North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Many Missouri athletes qualified for the Region 15 and 16 championships and most of those accepted their spots and made their way to Greensboro for the meet. Region 15, which comprises much of the eastern half of Missouri. While the St. Louis region is abundantly represented, other parts of the Show-Me State's Region 15 footprint will be represented by some current and future Missouri high school standouts.

Region 15 Results

Dexter senior distance star Gabrielle Brown will compete in three events in the 17-18-year-old age group. Brown started her high school career clocking 26 and 27-minute 5k's in cross country and ran the 200 and 400-meter dashes in track as a freshman, before becoming a middle-distance and distance standout who totaled 7 state cross country and track qualifications and earned 4 All-State honors. Brown placed 19th in the 2021 Class 3 state cross country race before taking 4th, 5th, and 9th in the 3200, 800, and 1600-meter runs at this year's Class 3 state track and field meet.


Brown will race in three events in North Carolina for the Cleats of Fire track club. After sweeping the event titles at the Region 15 meet, she's the 13th seed in the 3,000-meter run (11:58) and 2,000-meter steeplechase (8:27), while also the 26th seed in the 1,500-meters (5:20). Brown has personal records (PRs) of 2:21 for the 800, 5:21.13 for the 1600, and 11:59.86 for 3200-meters.

Recent Rolla Middle School standout Cameron Martrensen is the 9th seed in the 15-16-year-old boys 3,000-meters. He has a seed time of 9:28.64. Martensen has had an impressive 8th grade track season, finishing as the top boy on the Missouri MileSplit Middle School Performance List in the 800 and 1600 with blazing times of 2:02.82 and 4:28.78.

Other Region 15 distance event entries include Puxico High School sophomore to-be Logan Robison, who will run the 1500 and 3000-meter races. He's the 89th and 47th seed in the 15-16 age group events and like Gabrielle Brown, runs for Cleats of Fire. Robison placed 100th as a freshman last fall at the Class 2 State cross country meet. Grandview Middle School (Hillsboro, MO) 8th grade graduate  Gavin Howerton of Puxico, Missouri will also race in the 15-16 1500 and 3000-meter runs for the Jefferson County Jets track club. Howerton is also scheduled to compete in the 2,000-meter steeplechase where his highest spot on the seed list comes of his three events at 42nd with an 8:17.41 previous clocking.

While Dexter High School senior Gabrielle Brown will compete in the middle and long-distance races, her high school teammate and rising sophomore Kaylee Rutledge will do some throwing at AAU Junior Olympic Games. Rutledge will throw the shot and discus in the 15-16-year-old division in North Carolina where she is the 90th and 94th seed.

After 5th-place Region 15 meet finishes, Ironton, Missouri native and rising sophomore at Arcadia Valley High School, Ian Held will compete in the 100 and 200-meter dashes in the 15-16 age group competition. Held competes for the Jefferson County Jets.

Sach Wolf, a Jefferson County Jets club member and rising junior at Pacific High School will compete in three events in the 17-18 division at the national meet. Wolf will compete in the decathlon, where he was the Region 15 champion, as well as the 110 and 400-meter hurdles. Wolf is the 13th seed in the decathlon with 5410 points. Wolf competed in 7 of the 10 decathlon events at the Great Southwest Track and Field Classic last month for Team Missouri.

Rylan Bell a rising senior at Malden High School will also compete in the 17-18 decathlon. After a 4th-place Region 15 finish, Bell is the 27th seed.

St. James High School rising junior Kaiden Snyder will race in both hurdle events in Greensboro. Snyder, who was 3rd in the 110-hurdles at the Class 3 state meet, has a top seed of 45 in the 400-hurdle race at nationals with a 57.20-second clocking he earned while winning the Region 15 meet race.

Watch the 2022 AAU Junior Olympic Games live on MileSplit/Flotrack