USATF Juniors: Florida Coverage

Jun 17, 2012

Info and Coverage Links

We have on-site coverage at Juniors through our national affiliate, MileSplit US.

Sunday Highlights

Arman Hall second to Aldrich Bailey

Perhaps the most anticipated match-up of the meet, high schoolers Arman Hall (St. Thomas Aquinas FL) and Aldrich Bailey (TX) finally faced off in the finals of the 400 meter dash on Sunday. The two had elluded each other all year: Hall the defending World Youth champ at the event and Bailey the new king of the single-lapper (at least as far as times indicated).

The two prepsters made their college peersin the race look pedestrian. Bailey though matched the hype that followed his incredible season and won by a fairly decent margin. Baily put up his second fastest time of the season with a 45.37, while Hall hit the 45s for the second time in his career (and second time in a month) with a 45.77. The two will move on together to represent Team USA at the IAAF World Junior Championships next month in Barcelona. There is a decent shot that they may put the red-white-and blue on the top two levels of the podium.

Aldrich Bailey Interview

Moscoso Wins 10,000 Meter Racewalk

It may be a little known event in the U.S., but the racewalk is a big deal in many South and Central American countries! And junior Maite Moscoso of Lake Brantley HS is one of America's brights hopes in the event looking toward the 2016 Games and beyond. She showed why on Sunday, with a dominating 54:32.82 victory in the 10K walk.

While Moscoso is dominant here in the States, the time did not hit the World Junior qualifying standard so she will not race in Barcelona this time around. She needed to go under 51:00 and came close in April with a 51:23. But the youngster has plenty of time to help the US close the gap between us and the rest of the world! And the rate she has been improving, she'll get there.. her time today was four minutes faster than she walked at the Pan Am Junior Games last year.

More about the high school racewalk...

Robin Reynolds 7th in 400

Miami Jackson senior Robin Reynolds will have to settle for one event at the World Junior Championships next month: the long jump. After making today's finals, she was only able to summon a 53.87 that was good enough for 7th place. It could be a blessing. Maybe the change of focusing on only one event will help her propel her to the podium in Barcelona! After all, the last time she only had one event to worry about she was winning the World Youth title at 400 meters! Time for some world championship hardware in a new event! Go get 'em, Robin!

Sanders, Johnson, Davis-White Finish 3-4-6

Shayla Sanders and Tristie Johnson finished in a stunning photo finish for third and fourth place. The FinishLynx image showed Sanders ahead by .008, both with official times of 23.47 into slightly negative wind. Kali Davis-White was not far behind in sixth place 23.71.

Kendal Williams 5th in 200

Kendal Williams, the sophomore from Stanton Prep, finished his season up on a positive note with a fifth place finish in the 200 meter finals. His time was a wind legal 21.11 and he was the youngest athlete in the field.

UF's Brewer Second in Triple Jump; Walker 7th

Ciarra Brewer of the University of Florida finished just 3/4 of an inch from the victory with a 42-9 triple jump.

Jacksonville University's Shanique Walker was seventh in 40-6.75. That performance came a day after her sixth place finish in the 100 hurdles with a 13.66 into a headwind.

Justin Osking in Discus...?

Official results are missing for the discus... so we will fill this in with his performance as soon as it is known.

Saturday Highlights

Ryan Pickering - 10K Champ, Third in 5K

John I. Leonard grad and Oregon Duck Ryan Pickering is no longer considering himself a miler. He is now a pure distance guy!

He did well to show it on Friday with a third place showing in the 5K with a quick 14:29.25. But the best was yet to come.

He will join Team USA in Barcelona on the World Junior Team after his junior national championship win with a 30:56.77.

JL Hines of UF also competed in the 10K, finishing in 8th place with a time of 32:02.16.

Scantling Second in Decathlon

University of Georgia freshman and Jacksonville Episcopal alum Garrett Scantling will represent the US at World Juniors in Barcelona in July!

With exceptionally strong showings in the pole vault, high jump, and 110 Hurdles, Scantling scored 7434 points to finish second behind Gunnar Nixon. The top two make the team.

Reynolds Wins Long Jump, Advances to 400 Finals

She did it again on her first jump! Just like at the state meet, Robin Reynolds secured the World Junior Championship on her first jump of the day. She nailed another 20+ footer with a 20-5.75 (6.24 meters) in similar fashion to how she hit the "perfect jump" at the 4A state meet in May. Different now, however, with this level of competition she had some close calls with Jasemin Gibbs, Kendell Williams, and Kyle Price all nailing jumps over six meters. But at the end of the day, Reynolds' wind legal mark gave her the win with two inches to spare!

Tomorrow, Reynolds will try to punch her ticket to Barcelona again with her other specialty: the 400 meters. Robin won her heat with a time of 53.24 that will put her as the fourth seed going into the finals. Don't forget she is the defending World Junior Champ at the event, but hasn't quite hit her stride in the one-lapper that she had last year. Hope to see her win out and get her chance to defend that title!

Hall Advances to Sunday 400 Finals

St. Thomas Aquinas' Arman Hall took care of business in the 400 Meter prelims and we will get to see the long awaited showdown tomorrow: Hall vs. Texas high schooler Aldrich Bailey. The two are the top ranked high school 400 meter athletes in the nation hands down. Thus far the match up has elluded them this season... with Bailey traveling to Florida for Golden South, while Hall traveled to New Mexico for Great Southwest. The questions will be anwered tomorrow though.

Hall won his heat with a fairly quick but somewhat measured 46.73, while Bailey didn't seem to take his foot much off the gas in a fast 45.93--beating his nearest competitor by over a second and a half. Bailey is eyeing an attempt to make the US Olympic team... fairly unheard of for a high school 400 meter runner (or much any high schooler actually). Depending on how things to tomorrow, Hall may want to consider buying a ticket to Oregon as well. Hall is the defending World Junior champion in the event.

UF's Taylor Burke Wins High Jump

Taylor Burke has zero misses all the way up as the bar raised to 1.8 meters (5-10.75) to win the Junior National Championship and earn a seat on the plane to Spain. She made three attempts at six feet, but couldn't quite get there.

Sanders, Johnson, White All Advance to 200 Finals

A day after going 3-4-5 in the 100 meter finals, the lately seemingly inseparable trio all advanced to tomorrow's finals. Shayla Sanders won her heat in 23.49. Johnson and Davis each finished second in their respetive heats with times of 23.65 and 23.86. Those are pretty fast prelim times, especially when you consider they all into a negative wind. Sanders' win was especially impressive came into a -2.1. Of course, all that matters is what happens tomorrow! Let's hope they're not exhaused after the long three days!

Kendal Williams Advances to 200 Finals

After disappointedly not getting through the prelims on Friday's 100, the sophomore got some redemption! He nabbed a sixth seed spot out of heat 3 with a time of 21.25 and will go after the much older competition on Sunday's final.

Friday Highlights

Bracy Scratches, Williams Fails to Advance in 100 Prelims

After continued discussion and eagerness over when Marvin Bracy would make his return to the track this season, the question has been unfortunately answered: no. Though he appeared on the start list and made the trip, seeded in lane 8 of the first preliminary heat, the FSU signee's lane remained empty. This effectively ends Bracy's record-breaking high school career that will unforutnately end with a promising yet sour and injury-plagued season. Bracy needed to put up a fast wind-legal time at USATF Juniors to secure a spot at the Olympic Trials. It was not to be.

Stanton Prep sophomore Kendal Williams had a solid showing of 10.68 in the second heat of the prelims, but failed to advance to the finals. He will have another shot tomorrow, as he is set to compete in the 200.

Sanders, Davis, Johnson go 3-4-5 in 100 Finals

A great showing for our Florida girls! Tristie Johnson and Shayla Sanders both won their preliminary heats with times of 11.93 (-3.2 headwind) and 11.51 (-0.4 wind), respectively. Kali Davis-White also notched a finals-qualifying position by finishign third out of heat two in 11.50 (+0.3 wind).

Then in the finals on Friday night, the girls went 3-4-5 all within .02 of each other! Shayla, Kali, and Tristie finished in taht order with times of 11.58, 11.58, and 11.60, respectively into close to neutral wind.

Other Florida Performances

Charlotte alumn and Florida Gator Tyler Cardillo did not have the day he was looking for. He finished up with an out of character 1:58.78 in the prelims and will not advance to tomorrow's finals. Cardillo posted a nice shot of the beautiful IU track on Instagram.
Miami Central sophomore Kimani Austin-Reese added a very solid 1:02.41 to her stellar season. Going against mostly college competition in the 400 Meter Hurdles, she finished in 14th place in the prelims, a second and a half out of the finals. She is the third ranked 300H girl in Florida this season and her 400H time today places her around 30th in the nation among high schoolers, second in Florida.
Kelli Williams of USF finished 18th place in the prelims of the Women's 1500 with a time of 4:42.18.
Univeristy of Miami thrower Amber Monroe fouled out in the discus.