Woodmont junior Aaron Ramirez, the Class AAA 2008 state cross country champion, was named state cross country Gatorade runner of the year earlier today, the organization announced.
Quite a few national caliber high school track stars will be headed to Tennessee this weekend for the KTC Indoor Track Classic held at East Tennessee State in Johnson City. The New Bern boys from North Carolina have been traveling all around as of late including trips to Arkansas, Virginia Tech, and the New York Armory and this weekend find themselves at ETSU with their US leading 4x400 meter relay and national ranked individual athletes. Their 4x400 meter relay will be looking to run ever closer to the high school national record of 3:13 after running 3:17.00 at Virginia Tech last weekend. The Hendrix twins, currently ranked #1 and #2 in the 500, will look to drop their 400 season best times further with Anthony at a US #2 time of 47.73 and Andrew at a US #3 time of 48.12. Teammate Fuquawn Greene is also a national leader in the 200 meter dash with his 21.39 season best. Greene will be racing in the 200 meter dash this weekend along with the 60 meter dash, which his 6.85 season best ranks him third in the US at this time. Chalonda Goodman, the returning Nike Outdoor Nationals champion in the 100 and 200 meter dash, makes her 2009 debut this weekend in the 200 meter dash. Goodman, a senior at Newnan High School in Georgia, has a personal best of 23.22 in the event. The national leader in the weight throw and US #5 in the shot put, Lauren Chambers, with her 58'4.75" season best in the weight throw, will make an attempt at the high school indoor national record in the event. Chambers, a Southern Cal commitment, qualified and competed on the US team at the World Junior Championships last summer. Also competing this weekend in Tennessee will be a teammate of Chambers from the 2008 World Juniors team in hurdler Jasmine Stowers from South Carolina. Another one of South Carolina's best is also making the trip to Johnson City in junior Briana Nelson, one of the nation's top returning 400 meter dash specialists with a 53.45 personal best and third place finish at Nike Outdoor Nationals last June. KTC Indoor High School Classic Performance List
The New Bern boys from North Carolina continue to impress with an incredible indoor season of amazing relay performances topped most recently tonight at the KTC Indoor Track Classic in Tennessee as their 4x400 meter relay ran the #2 time ever in high school history on all sized tracks with a 3:13.24 performance on the oversized track at East Tennessee State. Their time was actually faster than the listed "national record" in the high school boys indoor 4x400 meter relay set by Muir High School in 1996 at 3:13.34, but Muir High School will keep their national record (for now) as they ran their time on a 200 meter indoor track which is the standard for all high school national record performances in the circular running events. The fastest oversized track perfomance belongs to Dallas Lincoln at 3:11.7, which puts the performance by the New Bern boys in perspective since they just ran the fastest high school 4x400 indoor time since the 1970 performance from the Dallas Lincoln squad. More results and news from Johnson City forthcoming...
Pendleton junior Jasmin Stowers, running with club team Quick Striders, sealed a 60-meter hurdles victory at the Knoxville Track Club High School Invitational Saturday in Johnson City, Tenn. Stowers' time ties her for first in the nation, currently in the hurdle event.
Highlights from the weekend action in Ohio and Tennessee. (Pictured: Will Stratford, West Jessamine)
In an effort to honor the top track and field performers from Kentucky, KYtrackXC.com will have a weekly set of Athletes of the Week. There will be Middle School, High School, and College awardees. Former Kentucky High School Track and Field athletes currently running in college are eligible for the College award, even if he or she attends a school out-of-state.