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.
The Athletes must be of High School age or under 20 years old by Dec. 31st , 2008 and must have a qualifying time to enter the USATF meet.
With many Arizona athletes peaking for the State Meet in early May, it must be difficult to keep training at a high level for a 
meet near the end of June. Cedrique Smith (Sr. Agua Fria) and Hannah Carson (Fr. Dobson) were two athletes who were able to PR at the USATF meet. Smith came into the meet with a PR of 14:28 and placed 7th overall in the prelims with a time of 13:99 moving him into the finals where he placed 5th with a time of 13.97. Carson threw the Javelin 163-4.75, nearly three feet farther than her winning throw of 160-10.75 at the Great Southwest Classic two weeks earlier. Carson placed third in the Javelin just missing out on qualifying for the World Team, however, second place Roxi Grizzle (KS) did not have a passport and would most likely not get one in time which would allow Hannah to make the team but she was told she was too young and would probably not go. “I am going to just brush this one off and move forward”, Carson said with a smile as she and her Dad were getting ready to head to the Nike Outdoor Nationals in Greensboro, NC. The Javelin was taking place the next day and Carson wanted to compete again.
Bryce Lamb (Jr. Chandler) jumped 24-0.50 in the long jump and 51-8.50 in the triple jump and placed 4th in
both events. Neither jump was a PR for Lamb. Two weeks earlier he jumped 25-9.00 in the long jump to win the Great Southwest Classic and four weeks earlier he jumped 52-2.00 in the triple jump to place second behind Will Claye.
Junior Will Claye from Mountain Pointe was one of the heavy favorites in the Triple Jump. With a PR of 52-4.75 he had already qualified for the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon but an accident during practice ended his season early. While attempting a jump, Claye slipped and put his hand down to catch himself, breaking his wrist.
Terra Evans (Sr. South Mountain) and Serene Williams (Sr. Peoria) both ran in the 100m prelims but neither were able to hit their PR’s and qualify for the finals. Evans ran an 11.90 (PR 11:39) placing 10th in the prelims and Williams ran a time of 11.05 (PR 11.55) placing 11th.
Just as the first heat of the men’s 400 prelims was starting on Day 2 of the meet, a storm quickly blew into the stadium causing
an evacuation and a nearly 3 hour delay. When the meet finally resumed, Allante Battle (Sr. Desert Vista) stepped to the line in lane two of his heat. Battle’s time of 48.00 was slower than his State Meet time of 47.12 and was not fast enough to qualify for the finals. With the end of his high school season Battle can now look forward to his running career at Arizona State University.
Nectaly Barbosa, a true freshman at Arizona State University, scratched in the 800m race to concentrate on the 1500m where he placed second in the finals to earn a spot on the World Team. Teammate Dylan Hatcher scratched in the 10,000 to also concentrate on the 1500m. Hatcher made the finals in the 1500m race but did not qualify for the World Team..jpg)