The two governing bodies of youth track & field bump heads this weekend in their respective "Junior Olympics" events, with the AAU version taking place in Norfolk, VA and the USATF going off in Sacramento, CA. Florida had a pair of national titles... one at each event.
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In the oft-ignored event of the racewalk, Maite Moscoso has been an age group standout for many years. She earned a national championship this weekend in the 3000 Meter Racewalk with a blazing time of 15:50.40 that was the second fastest time of the meet... including the males! She is #1 in the country for her Intermediate age group and #2 overall in the nation for high schoolers.
Moscoso's 3000m win came after a victory last week in the 5K Race Walk at the USA vs. Canada meet in Toronto, where she broke the international competition (including members of the US and Canadian national teams) with three laps to go... finishing in 26:30. At 15 years old, she was the youngest competitor in that field.
Other Floridians in Top 3...
Clairwin Dameus (Boynton Beach, FL) 3rd in Heptathlon with 4309 points
Brandon Kruppenbac (Orlando, FL) 2nd in the Intermediate 3000m Racewalk in 17:00.40
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Robin Reynolds showed she is most definitely back after an injury plagued season, running a season best and near PR of 53.23 to win the Intermediate National Championship at USATF JO. That time is the fifth fastest high schooler this season. Reynolds as started a nice peak for the late summer meets, just in time for potential Youth Olympics gold medal in Singapore.