Cedrique Smith

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Some of the top athletes in Arizona headed to the Jesse Owens Stadium on the Ohio State Campus in Columbus Ohio for the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships. The three day event serves as a selection meet for the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships to be held July 8 – 13 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The top two finishers in most of the events qualify for the World Team. An athlete competing in events like the 3000 also need to hit a qualifying time in order to make the team regardless of where they place. Click on header for full article! Click here to see photos

With many runners heading to New Mexico, 3 girls and 6 boys will be competing at the Golden West Invitational in Folsom California outside of Sacramento. Two of Arizona's top 3200 runners, Senior's Nadya and Nastia Bishton from Mountain Ridge are seeded 1 and 2 in the race. Xavier Prep's Sarah Penney is seeded second, just 2 seconds behind the top seed, in the mile. On the boys side, James Eichberger an 800 runner from Catalina Magnet earned the top spot with his time of 1:51.50. Aqua Fria's Cedrique Smtih will be running in the #2 spot in the 110 hurdles. Other runners competing at the Golden West are: Steve Magnuson(Ironwood Ridge), 3200; Richard Kivi (Marana), Triple Jump; Michael Ness (Marana), 300 hurdles and 200 dash; and Aaron Allen(Mesa Mountain View), 110 hurdles.  

It was blistering hot at the May 24th Meet of Champions......no wait.....it was in the 70's and the weather was perfect. It's hard to believe it was May in Arizona and hot chocolate was selling faster than ice cream. Spectators were wearing jackets or wrapped in blankets and the runners were enjoying another unusually cool day at the track. The Meet of Champions is a race where the State Champions and top runners from each division come together and race for one title. Some State Champions finish their season at the State Meet but others come to compete. To see videos of the Meet of Champions (click here) To see the complete article click on the title.