Youth National Highlights: Track Eastern

This past weekend Track Eastern competed at the 2008 USATF Youth National Meet. We had a number of athletes competing from the Bantam to the Young Men and Women age groups. We kind of used this meet as a tune-up for the regional meet coming up in two weeks in Rock Hill, SC. Overall, we performed exceptionally well, as I said there is still some kinks that we have to work out.

In the Bantam age group we had Sydney Jenkins run the 100 and 200 dashes. Sydney contested a 14.19 in the 100 meter dash placing seventh. That Saturday, Sydney ran the 200 meter dash placing sixth in a time of 28.79.

Erin Jenkins represented Track Eastern in the Youth age group. Erin is a rising hurdler. He competed in the 100 and 200 meter hurdles. Erin qualified for the finals in both of his hurdling events. In the finals on Sunday, Erin ran 28.13 placing eighth, then came back later on in the day to post a time of 15.53 to capture a fifth place finish.

Track Eastern had a lot of representation in the Intermediate age group. For the girls, Dannielle Davis competed in the 100 meter hurdles placing sixth in a time of 15.26. Stephanie Jenkins also ran the hurdles. In the 400 hurdles, Stephanie ran a 1:14 after falling over the last hurdle. Intermediate girl sprinter Dominique Weathers, ran the 200 meter dash. Qualifying for the finals on Saturday, Dominique ran a time of 24.63 seconds placing eighth overall. The intermediate girls also competed in the 4x100 meter relay. The team consisted of Dannielle Davis, Amber Clark, Ronqeiya Luther and Bryanna Wyatt. Each girl ran a strong leg to place fourth in a time of 48.33 seconds. As for the Intermediate boys, it was a meet of fine tuning our races. We had two athletes compete in the 200 meter dash, Dontrez Carmon (23.15) and Thomas Eubanks (24.24). Dontrez also ran the 400 meter dash, in a time of 51.68. David Coe and I ran the 110 meter hurdles. David contested a time of 15.91 just missing the finals. I ran a 15.78 qualifying for the finals. I posted a 15.58 in the finals taking sixth overall. I also competed in the 400 meter hurdles. In the prelims I ran a time of 57.28. I came back in the finals on Sunday to post a time of 55.45 placing second. That Saturday, Thomas, David, Dontez and I came together to run the 4x100 meter dash relay. We took seventh in a time of 44.10.

The Young Women age group displayed a number of outstanding performances. Future Gamecock Kelsey Mckorkle, competed in the 400 meter dash along with Brandy Swann. Brandy posted a time of 55.95 seconds placing fourth, while Kelsey ran a time of 55.04 placing first overall. Ryanna Henderson competed in the 1500 meter run. Ryanna placed second in a time of 4:52.18. Saturday the girls competed in 4x100 meter relay. With strong legs from Kelsey Mckorkle, Toccara Jones, Jayvonna Bowman and Brandy Swann, they ran away witht the victory in a time of 46.75. Some of those girls also ran on the 4x400 meter relay team. Kelsey, Brandy, Jayvonna and Ryanna all ran strong to place second in a time of 3:51.76. Track Eastern had a some of the Nation's best athletes compete in the Young Men age group. In the 100 meter dash final on Sunday, Track Eastern had three sprinters perform well. Demetrius David took sixth in a time of 11.00 seconds. Third was Darryl Williams in a time of 10.84 and coming in second was Fuquan Green run a time of 10.76. Track Eastern had another Gamecock compete, Booker Nunley ran the 110 hurdles. Booker ran a time of 13.72 seconds in the prelims and came back in the finals to post a time of 13.50 seconds to take first place. The young men 4x100 relay team ran well with strong legs from Darryl Williams, Fuquan Green, Demetrius David and Christopher Herring. The Young Men 4x400 meter relay who took a close second place, they ran a great race. Coming up short by two hundredths of a second to run a time of 3:11.25, they took second overall. The race was crazy.

Johnny Dutch .1 Away From Olympic Spot

University of South Carolina freshman Johnny Dutch, a 2007 Clayton High School graduate and 9-time NC State hurdle champ, finished 5th in the 400M hurdles at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon this weekend. Johnny, who is only 19, ran a personal best time of 48.52, which was only .1 of a second behind the 3rd place finisher (who was the final Olympic spot) and .35 behind the winner (the top 3 are either past Olympic or World Champions!). His time also placed him 5th individually on the IAAF world list (Kerron Clement, Bershawn Jackson, Angelo Taylor, and Justin Gaymon are top 4). His 2008 season will end at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships to be held July 8-13 in Bydgoszcz, Poland where he will represent team USA.

Garner's Nunley hurdling obstacles

By Tim Stevens, Staff WriterComment on this story Booker Nunley can look back on missing the spring track season at Garner High as a blessing -- although when he first learned he had been ruled ineligible, it didn't seem that way.
"I thought I knew what was best for me," Nunley said this week. "But God had a better plan in mind."
Nunley won the U.S. junior national championship in the 110-meters hurdles last week in Columbus, Ohio.
His time (13.408 seconds) was the fastest in the junior division in the United States this year and is believed to be the fastest in the world. His time was almost a half-second faster than his previous career best of 13.88.
The victory earned Nunley a berth on the U.S. team in the IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, in July.
"I don't know what is in Poland except for the junior worlds," Nunley said. "This is our Olympics. I am going to have a chance to compete against the best young runners in the world."
Nunley might not be packing for Poland if an administrative error had not cost him his senior season of high school track.
He had played football through his junior year and was a good enough wide receiver to receive scholarship offers from Miami and East Tennessee.
But for his senior season, he decided to concentrate on track, for which he had offers from Tennessee, N.C. State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and others.
Nunley, who has a 3.4 overall grade-point average, took only two classes last fall. He was on track to graduate and dropped two courses he didn't need.
He passed his two courses, but N.C. High School Athletic Association rules require athletes to pass at least three courses to be eligible to compete in the following semester.
"I didn't know the rule," he said.
He found out he was ineligible days before the NCHSAA indoor championships. He had won a major invitational on Saturday but learned on Monday that his high school career was over.
"It hurt," Nunley said. "My whole track season was wiped out that quickly."
Curtis Frye, the South Carolina coach, called to say Nunley's track scholarship was not in jeopardy and encouraged him to keep practicing.
Steve McGill, a teacher at Ravenscroft and Nunley's private hurdles coach, told Nunley to pick himself up and make the best of the situation.
"We talked about how Booker now had the chance to work on his technique," McGill said. "He didn't have to worry about winning races. He could practice and get a lot better."
Hurdling is a combination of technique and speed, and McGill believes the biggest improvements come in improving technique.
McGill has worked with international champion hurdler Wayne Davis of Southeast Raleigh, former national high school hurdles champ Johnny Dutch of Clayton and the University of South Carolina and former state high school hurdles champ Gabby Mayo of Southeast Raleigh and Texas A&M.
"Look at all of the people, and we all have great technique," Nunley said. "We're not talking about jumping over sticks. We're hurdlers, and Coach McGill teaches us how to get faster."
The final piece of the puzzle came when a woman in Cary --Nunley doesn't know her or even know her name -- sent him a list of college track meets that he could enter.
Running in college meets forced Nunley to move to 42-inch tall hurdles, which are three inches taller than high school hurdles.
Nunley believes running on the higher hurdles this spring helped him improve his technique and made him stronger.
When he dropped back to the 39-inch hurdles for the junior nationals, he never felt faster.
"I guess I surprised a lot of people, but I thought I would do well," Nunley said. "I had run a 13.91 over the 42s, and Coach Fry told me that would convert to around a 13.4."
The championship race felt different than any previous race.
Nunley said he felt fast, but afterward he was sore.
"I've never been sore before or after a race," he said. "Maybe I've learned how to push myself more."
Never before had he been the focus of so much attention.
"Booker has been overshadowed by Wayne and Johnny," McGill said. "We have had some fantastic hurdlers in the area, international class runners.
Nunley said he is surprised a bit by the attention.
"I've always seen people go to the winners to congratulate them, but this time that was me," Nunley said.
tim.stevens@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-8910