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POSTED 6/28/10:
The Area 3 AAU Track and Field National Qualifier was held this past weekend. It was announced that some 1200 Athletes competed in a multi - state event to try to earn a spot at the AAU Junior Olympics Nationals at Norfolk State the first week of August.
13 New Energy runners participated in multiple events. 10 ran for our New Energy team while 3 of our runners were affiliated with 2 other local AAU track clubs. 11 Tidewater Strider New Energy runners qualified for Nationals ( top 8 finishers in each race). This is awesome!
The greatest part of the meet was watching our parents cheer in the 3 New Energy runners not running as part of our team - another Life Lesson your kids get to pass on - thanks so much for making my day.
National Qualifiers:
Amy Chalmers - 3000m/800m/1500m
Diana Chalmers - 3000m/1500m
Madison Keough - 3000m/1500m
Madeliene Woods - 800m/1500m
Hunter Quigley - 800m
Travis Redmond - 3000m
Rayaan Malhotra - 800m/1500m
Ana Malhotra - 3000m/800m/1500m
Josiah Ramsawh - 3000m/1500m
Christiana Leiding - 1500m
Isabelle Donovan - 1500m
Multiple awards were received by these runners ( top 4 finishers in each Age group receive medals)
RUNNER HIGHLIGHT: Hunter Quigley.
Do you remember the first time you had to go on stage by yourself, make a speech, or wrestle your first High School match in front of all your friends........I'm guessing 8 year old Hunter Quigley will have his 800 meter race this weekend with him for a while.
His Mom and I had reservations about entering Hunter, but we decided to ask him what he wanted to do and let that be the guideline. We all thought there was some great skills and energy in one of our newer runners - we were right.
Hunter ran his first track meet at these qualifiers. He had never raced anything other than a road race and only had a few days of track work training from our terrific coaches.
Here it is: You walk into Darling Stadium with 1200 Athletes and maybe 2000+ spectators. It is 95 degrees and you have to wait hours for your race to be called. You are on your own once they call you, since coaches and parents cannot go into the staging area or on the track and infield. As you are approaching the starting tent, several kids may trash talk you about how you are are going to get beat (this is apparently part of the new AAU protocol......but not ours).
We decided to seed Hunter only at his training pace (3:30) so he would not get put in a heat with kids who have proven times and more experience. Hunter went out and dominated his heat while finishing 4th overall, earning a medal. His time was within striking distance of the first place runner and he may have surprised everyone if he ran with the 'Big Dogs'.....no trash talk next time they see him out there......that's for sure.
Hunter did a 3:07 and had way more in the tank. Think about that next time you are doing your repeats.
Angelo and Sherry Celesia
Tidewater Striders Youth Coaches
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