Steeplechase, racewalk and multis highlight first day of USA Youth Champs YPSILANTI, Mich. -
Competition began with the steeplechase, race walk and multi-events Tuesday on the first day of competition at the 2009 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Rynearson Stadium on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Youth and Intermediate steeplechase
Winning the 2,000 meter Intermediate Girl's steeplechase, Kristina Vanderhout from the Arizona Flames track club, ran a time of 7 minutes 24.25 seconds. Vanderhout ran away with the win, with second place, Courtney Filliben, 8 seconds back. Vanderhout was the 3,000m steeplechase winner and runner up in the 800m earlier this month at the USATF Arizona Junior Olympic Championships. On the boy's side, Devin Hanrahan from South Orange won with a time of 6:52.27 minutes. Hanrahan ran a solid race to finish almost 200m in front of second place.
The 2,000m Young Women's steeplechase was lead by a pair of Southern California Roadrunners. Jzsanette Lindstrom dominated the race, finishing in 7:37.67 and Johnna Randazzo followed with a time of 8:40.81 minutes. Another Southern California Roadrunner took the victory on the Young Men's side in the 2,000m steeplechase as Daniel Rosales won in 6:08.17.
Race Walk
A handful of race walks were completed today. Caitlin Palacio of Lsi Sprint took home first place in the 1,500m race walk in the Midget Girl's division in 8:27.00. During the Youth Girl's 3,000m race walk, reigning champion Lila Haba smashed her competition and bettered her time from last year by over a minute finishing in 16:09.39.
Multis
Zack Bornstein from the Westlake Track Club won the Youth Boy's pentathlon with 2,423 points,over 300 points ahead of second place. Kendall Gustatson won the Youth Girl's pentathlon with 3,052 points to take home the victory.
Alex Gochenour from the Cornhusker Flyers, leads the heptathlon in the Intermediate Girl's division after four events with 2,909 points. In the Young Women's heptathlon, Tayler Johnson from the Westlake Track Club, finishes out her day in first with 3,045 points and a small lead over second place.
With just three events to go, the Taylor will be fighting to hold her lead over Lindsay Vollmer (2,159 points). With the Intermediate Boy's decathlon half completed today, Gunnar Nixon from the Eastside Steppers Track Club has a substantial lead over his competitors as he finished the first day of competition with 3,439 points.
For more information and complete results on the 2009 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships, visit www.usatf.org.
About USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org # # #