Pan American U20 Championships
Last month, three Tennessee Preps qualified for the Pan American U20 Championships and all three made the most of their trip to Puerto Rico this past week bringing home gold in their respective competitions.
On Friday, Brentwood Academy's and Ole Miss Signee Mensi Stiff kicked off the trips to the top of the podium with not only a win, but the US #4 All-Time Shot Put mark for high school girls with a sixth round throw of 54 feet and 9.25 Inches.
The marks in her series ranged from 49' - 9.25" to the winning distance which were all better than the runner up distance of 49 - 8.25.
At the same time that Stiff was securing the first gold medal for Tennesseans, Brentwood High School's Aiden Carter was busy amassing 3555 points through the first day of the Decathlon. He would sit in second position after one day and on day two would take over the lead during event eight, the pole vault, where he would score 702 points the highest clearance of any competition, while the leader would no-point the event. Carter would go on to win the Javelin and ultimately secure the gold medal in the 1500m with 6808 total points to runner ups 6748. Carter will join the University of Oregon track team this fall.
On Sunday, Heritage High School and future Volunteer Grant Campbell flipped the script on fellow countryman Brion Stephens who beat him on misses at the US Championships. He and Campbell would both enter the competition at 6-8 and while Stephens kept his sheet clean through three heights, Campbell again would fall behind on a couple of misses. The two would be the only competitors left after clearing seven feet. Both would clear the subsequent height on their final attempts with Campbell clearing the next height, 7-2.25, on his first attempt. After Stephens would miss his first attempt, he would pass the height and both competitors would go on the 7-3. If Stephens could clear while Campbell missed or if both cleared with the same amount of misses at the height, Stephens would win on previous misses. Ultimately, neither competitor would clear 7-3 and Campbell would win on misses.
Congratulations to these athletes. Can't wait to see what they do at the next level.