The AAU track and field season will come to an end by Aug. 6 as
Junior Olympic Games are held over an eight-day span in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
To qualify to the
event, athletes or relays had to place in the top six, while
multi-event such as the triathlon, decathlon and heptathlon an
athlete had to be in the top four to advance out of districts and then
regionals.
Missouri was split
up into two regions - No. 15 and No. 16. The latter was held at
Carl Junction with athletes from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma
and even a few from Texas.
This is the second
of a three-part series looking at qualifiers in the 15-16 and 17-18
year old divisions from Region 16. Last is the Joplin and Springfield
areas.
One of the highest
seeded qualifiers is Taylor Mayo from the Springfield Track Club,
seeded fourth in 17-18 long jump. She is seeded eighth in the triple
jump. She won first place in the AAU Region 16 meet in both events.
The Kickapoo standout was third in the MSHSAA Class 5 finals in both events this past spring.
Springfield Track Club's Taylor Mayor qualified for the AAU Jr. Olympic Games in the long and triple jump.
Springfield Track
Club also has Ava Shurtz, who is in the field in the 15-16 100-meter
hurdles. She will attend Kickapoo in the fall.
Carthage's Joey
Hettinger is seeded 12th in the 17-18 high jump. Competing
for 417 Up and Out Jump Club she was second in the regional meet in
the high jump.
Teammate Chase Housh
took first in the 17-18 400-meter hurdles and is competing at the Jr.
Games. Housh is from Diamond High School and took 10th in
the 400-meter dash in the Class 2 finals this year.
Sarah Mueller
qualified in the 1,500-meter run for TYP Elite Track Club out of
Carthage, taking fifth at regionals. She attends Thomas Jefferson
Independent Day School.
Another TYP
qualifier at national is Brylee Strickland, who will run in the
400-meter dash in the 15-16 division. Strickland, who will attend
Joplin High School in the fall, was third at regionals.
TYP's Avarus
Wofford took fifth at regionals in the 15-16 400-meter hurdles and is
competing in North Carolina as well.
Avarus Wofford, center, running for TYP Track Elite Club from Carthage, took part in the 400-meter hurdle event at the AAU Region 16 Track and Field Championships in Carl Junction.
A handful of
athletes from the Region 16 meet qualified for nationals but are not
on the heat sheets. Springfield Track Club's Arric Spyres took
second in the 17-18 high jump, while Springfield Track Club's Lily
Woodward took fourth in the 15-16 400-meter hurdles.
Springfield's
Aaron Powell took fifth in the decathlon, competing unattached at the
regionals.
417 Up and Out Jump
Club's Zachary Roughton took third in the decathlon, second in the
pole vault and fourth in the 400-meter hurdles.
CJ Freedom's Elise Ferris took sixth in the 17-18 long jump.
The AAU track and field season will come to an end by Aug. 6 as
Junior Olympic Games are held over an eight-day span in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
To qualify to the
event, athletes or relays had to place in the top six, while
multi-event such as the triathlon, decathlon and heptathlon an
athlete had to be in the top four to advance out of districts and then
regionals.
Missouri was split
up into two regions - No. 15 and No. 16. The latter was held at
Carl Junction with athletes from Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma
and even a few from Texas.
