USATF Junior Outdoor T&F Champs 2010

Three current Notre Dame student-athletes competed at the 2010 USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships hosted by Drake University this past weekend, with two finishing in the top 10 of their respective event.

University of Houston sprinter Errol Nolan has qualified for the IAFF World Junior Championships by winning the men's 400-meter race at the USA Track and Field Junior Championships. Nolan will travel to Moncton, Canada for the international event that is set to take place from July 19-25.

Erin Pendleton won the junior discus throw with a toss of 52.54 meters (172-4) at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to move on to the World Championships.

  DES MOINES, IOWA – Erin Donohue was exuberant. She’d just finished second in the women’s 1,500-meter final at the U.S. Outdoor Championships and was calling it “the greatest race of my life, since high school anyway.”  That was taking in a whole lot of territory. 

DES MOINES, IOWA – Just a few hundred hammer throw devotees were there to see it, but they can count themselves among the most fortunate. Just how fortunate?  

DES MOINES, Iowa --- Incoming University of Portland freshman Julia Fonk competed in the 1500 meter finals at the 2010 USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Drake Stadium on Saturday. Fonk placed 12th in the finals with a time of 4:47.52.

File photo

Justin Hunter (pictured by Ryan Kelly) bettered his state record and US leading mark in the long jump by winning the USATF Junionr Nationals title in the long jump with a final attempt and 0.2 wind legal mark of 25'10.75". The recent graduate of Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach started off the competition with a initial mark of 24'9.75", which still would have placed him first ahead of eventual runner-up Carlton Lavong from Pennsylvania (24'7.25"). His top two finish and US #18 all-time performance qualifies Hunter to compete on the World Juniors team, which will be in competition July 19th through July 25th in Moncton, Canada. Hunter is the first high school boys champion from Virginia in the meet since Mike Morrison (pole vault) back in 2005 and joins Keith Holley, who previously was the only USATF Junionr National long jump prep champion from Virginia back in 1988 with a mark of 25'5.25"  The University of Tennessee bound football and track star will compete tomorrow afternoon in the triple jump.

\Whitney Fountain (Columbus, NYC) stood in 2nd place after the first day of the USATF Juniors heptathlon on Wednesday at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Fountain, believed to be competing in her first heptathlon – her entry was based on a pentathlon score – scored 3,241 points in the opening four events. She was just behind Ashley Smith (Millikan, Long Beach, Calif), the national high school leader this spring with a best of 5,225.

  Justin Hunter (pictured above by John Herzog) of Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach will be the lone high school athlete from the state of Virginia competing this week at the USATF Junior National Track & Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The Virginia high school state record holder in the long jump at 25'8.75" will be competing Thursday in the long jump as the top seed and high school US leader then Friday will be in the triple jump as the sixth seed. Hunter has already met the World Junior Championships qualifying standard in the long jump and will need to only finish among the top two to make the World Junior teams, but will need a top two finish and also met the World Juniors qualifying standard of 51'2.25" in the triple jump in order to qualify for World competition in that event which he currently has a PR of 50'8.25" in the triple jump.. The IAAF World Junior Championships will be held in Moncton, Canda from July 19th through July 25th.   USATF Meet Page

Photo by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun.net

(Photos by Vic Sailer, PhotoRun.net)

A number of current and former Ducks will be in action at this week's USA Track & Field Championships and Junior Track & Field Championships Wednesday through Sunday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

Just over a week removed from an outstanding showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the Nittany Lion track and field teams will be in action again this week at the USATF Senior and Junior Outdoor Championships. The event, which will feature top talent from the prep, collegiate, and professional ranks, is set for June 23-27, at Drake Stadium.

Oklahoma State's Taylor Monaghan travels as the lone Cowboy to suit up at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships on Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.

While the 2010 NCAA season has come to a close, Oklahoma Track and Field athletes are still in action as a group of 13 current Sooners head to Des Moines, Iowa, this week for the 2010 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The group will also be joined at the event by three Oklahoma alums.

College freshmen Shelby Greany of Providence College and Robby Andrews of the University of Virginia will try to make the U.S. team for this summer’s World Junior Championships, to be held next month in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.