WEEKLY WRAPUP (2016)

Stay tuned for weekly updates!

WEEKLY WRAPUP (2014)

Congratulations to athletes achieving Personal Bests at Regionals!!

Amari Scott.....................200M
Shianne Johnson...............200M
Daimya Butler..................800M, 1500M
Helen Prescod.................100M
Jaeden Rickets.................Long Jump
Cameron Newton...............100M, 800M
Josiah Childress...............800M, Shot Put


Congratulations to our 2014 Jr. Olympic Qualifiers!

Amari Scott..........200M (BRONZE MEDALIST), 400M (SILVER MEDALIST)
Luxarrie Floyd........80 Hurdles (BRONZE MEDALIST)
Shianne Johnson.....100M, 200M, 400M
Daimya Butler........800M, 1500M
Shayne Dalton........800M
Jaeden Ricketts......100M, Long Jump (BRONZE MEDALIST)
Cameron Newton.....400M (BRONZE MEDALIST), 800M (SILVER MEDALIST)
Josiah Childress......800M, Shot Put


Aman Thornton Wins Big Again at State Hershey Meet!

Congratulations to Aman... again! This is Aman's 3rd win at Hershey, this time winning the 13-14 Boys 800 Meter Run in 2:16. His last 800 win was in 2012, where he was crowned king in the 11-12 Boys division. In 2011, Aman won the Boys 9-10 400 Meter Dash.

Most recently, Aman is enjoying the title of Columbus City Middle School Champion in the 800M event, edging out his competition by 7 hundreds of a second (2:16.50 to 2:16.57)! Not bad for a 7th grader.

Congratulations to our District Champions at the AAU District Meet at Eastmoor Academy!!

Amari Scott.....................200M, 400M
Hailey Holleman................100M
Luxarrie Floyd..................80 Hurdles
Shianne Johnson...............100M, 200M, 400M
Dayja Franklin..................Shot Put, Discus
Aylessa Carter..................800M
Khalil Samuel...................800M
Cameron Newton...............400M, 800M
Jaeden Rickets.................Long Jump
Tahir Farquarson...............Shot Put
Maurice Carreker...............Shot Put
Cameron Cooley.................Shot Put


Congratulations to athletes achieving Personal Bests at The AAU District Meet at Eastmoor Academy!!

Hailey Holleman................100M
Nia Menifee.....................100M, 200M, 400M
Kayla Jefferson.................Shot Put
Aylessa Carter..................400M
Luxarrie Floyd..................100M, 80 Hurdles
Bailey Smith.....................400M
Sky Harris.......................100M
Helen Prescod...................100M, 200M
Khalil Samuel....................800M
Shayne Dalton...................400M
Jaeden Rickets..................100M, 200M,Long Jump
Dominic Jones...................200M
Tyreke Farquharson............100M
Tyreke Farquharson.............100M
Tahir Farquharson...............100M, 200M
Maurice Carreker................800M
Cameron Newton.................800M
Marquise Scott...................200M, 400M
Daniel Menifee...................200M
Josiah Childress.................100M, 800M

Meet Summary for 2014 AAU District Meet at Eastmoor

Triple Threat Awards (three Personal Bests in a Single Meet) go to Nia Menifee ( who also received double bronze medals) and Jaeden Ricketts (triple medalist)

The Ohio Rockets welcome Nancy and Mohamed Freeman (3rd in 100M) and Nakylan Haley.

The Webmaster Surprise of the Week Award goes to our very own Bailey Smith, taking silver in the 400M with a PB of 1:08.38!! Well done!

12 Year Old Girls take a broom to the 100M and 400M, sweeping 1st through 3rd places! Congratulations to 400M medalists Shianne Johnson, Bailey Smith, and Aylessa Carter, and to the 200M medalists Shianne Johnson, Ahtiona Carter, and Luxarrie Floyd - respectively earning their gold, silver, and bronze medals!

Shianne Johnson earns three titles in one meet, capturing gold in the 100M, 200M, and 400M.

Special congratulations to Daimya Butler for sticking it out with a good performance in the dreaded 1500M Run.

Helen Prescod proves to be consistent in improvement, cutting her time down every time she steps on the track. Nice work!

Khalil Samuel earns a PB in the 800M and the title of District Champ, while teammate Shayne Dalton captures the bronze!

Brothers Tyreke and Tahir Farquerson achieve PBs in 100M. That's the way we do it!

Kayla Jefferson brings home double medals in the districts, grabbing a pair of silver medals for her 800M and shot put efforts!! Great work, Kayla!

Maurice Carreker turns in a 3:01.71 in the 800M, setting a PB. Stay tuned to see if Maurice can dip below 3:00 at the National Qualifier!

11-Year-Old Cameron Newton earns two golds and one silver, along with District Champ title in 400M and 800M. Cam is always competitive, and proves so once again by achieving an amazing time of 2:30.48, while setting a Personal Best! Can he go below 2:30 this season? This Webmaster believes so, and predicts it will happen at National Qualifier.

Double PB for Marquise Scott in 200M/400M, Josiah Childress 100M/800M, Tahir Farquharson in 200M/400M, Helen Prescod in 100M/200M, and Luxarrie Floyd in 100M/80 Hurdles!!!

Hats off to Shemar Samuel, a triple medalist in the always-competitive 100M/200M/400M events!

WEEKLY WRAPUP (2013)

Worthington Summer Classic (6/15)

Six weeks into the season, The Ohio Rockets now have 35 girls and  31 boys on our roster, and 46 of these athletes were in attendance of Saturday's Worthington meet.  Thirty-two children received a Personal Bests, with six of those obtaining THREE PBs! To say that the Ohio Rockets represented is an understatement., and creating this week's summary was challenging, as there were so many from which to choose.

EVERY ROCKET IN THE  BOYS 8-UNDER DIVISION , BOYS 9/10 DIVISION, GIRLS 8-UNDER DIVISION, and GIRLS 9/10 DIVISION earned a Personal Best at this meet.Just in case that did not impress you enough, please know  that is a combined total of 18 children for these four divisions.

Sprinter Cameron Newton (Boys 9/10) continues to impress, not only receiving three PBs in one meet, but continuing his improvement in the 400M for the fourth consecutive week. Cameron also broke the 30 second mark for his 200M (29.70) and earned  a Gold (100M) and two Silver medals for the day. Cameron is the picture of progress.

Fellow sprinter Jaylen Hudson picks up his own PB and silver medal for the 100M by cutting .46 off his previous best time!

Boys 8-Under New Crew send five to the 100M and 200M finals. Ohio Rockets swept 1st-3rd place in the 200M.

Jonathan Hurst gets this year's first Triple Threat shout-out, receiving all Gold Medals for his 100M/200M/400M efforts. Sprinkle two PBs on top and you can say that Jonthan had a great day.

Ohio Rockets welcomes back Devahn Jackson and Kevin Moore, who both were busy with their high school track careers. Nice way for these two to start out the summer season, as both had triple PBs!

Girls 11/12 clean up in the 100M, sending five to the finals and walking away with top three spots. Congratulations to Camille Trotman, Ahtiona Carter, Luxarrie Floyd, Shaniya Samuel, and Shianne Johnson for representing the Rockets!

Again, Girls 11/12 clean up in the 200M this time, grabbing gold and silver medals, and sending five to the finals.

And again, Girls 11/12 clean up in the 400M, taking five of the top 8 spots.

The Wonder Twins, Ahtiona and Aylessa Carter, do not disappoint. While Ahtiona was busy collecting her gold (200M), silver (100M), and bronze (400M) medals, Aylessa won the grueling 800M in what appeared to be a nailbiter, beating the runner up by 5/100 of a second. This was a fight to the finish. More importantly, Aylessa has improved every week in her 800M, and this performance marks a PB by taking a 5 second whack off of last week's time. Please also note that Ahtiona ran sub-30 in her 200M twice. These girls are on a mission.

Dalyn Sheppard does it! He dips under 13:00 for his 100M, clocking 12:87, a time worthy of advancing to the second round in last year's AAU Jr. Olympics. This is no small feat, as only 24 out of 101 contestants advance to the Semi-Finals. Oh, and another Triple-Threat shout-out, as Dalyn brought home Gold in all his events.

Aman Thornton explores new territory, competing in the Long Jump and easily bringing home the gold.

Sydney Williams marks a milestone, breaking her 100M time good and plenty by clocking a 13:76. Not to be outdone, sister Paige runs for gold in the 800M and earns a PB at the same time. Good work!

And finally, Rylei Ellis makes it to the finals in the 100M and 200M! Rylei has worked very hard to bring her time down, and has had PBs every meet she has attended. Rylei's persistance and hard work pay off.

Columbus Panthers (6/8)

The Ohio Rockets Track & Field Club continues to grow! This w eek we welcome the following new and returning Rockets:
Kendall Washington (Girls 9/10), Shanayia McCrary,  Gabby McKee, Kennedy McKee, Jacqueline Scott, Gabrielle McCrary, Israel Carter (all Girls 13/14), and last but certainly not least, Jadyn Collier (Girls 15/16). On the Boys side, we can add three new members to the 8-Under New Crew-  Willie John, Jonathan Wilson, Quan McKee, and Youth Boys Dylan Brookins, Cocy Goff, and Camby Goff. Welcome to The Club!

Personal Bests Page now updated! What a week - we had 23 children set PBs last weekend in 36 events! Three  Rockets obtained PBs in all of their events, and so a special salute goes out to Savannah John, Khalil Samuel, and Tyreke Farquharson!

Savannah John improves her 200M time for the third consecutive meet she has attended, bringing her time down from 36.31 to 34.08.

Paige Williams sets her PB in the 800M by cutting her time down by 20 seconds! Outstanding.

Ahtiona Carter  has chopped .75 off her 100M time since the beginning of the season and has improved every meet. Setting the bar high and leading the 11/12 Girls, she has run a remarkable 14.22 for the 100M. Hot on her heels - Luxarrie Floyd (14.38), and Shianne Johnson (14.41), and Shaniya Samuel (14.56). 

Cheers to Shianne Johnson for breaking the 30-second mark in her 200M!

Zakyah Snead is on her 400M roll, recording 1:09.96 to dip below 1:10 and set a new PB! How low can she go?

Rylei Ellis records yet another PB in the 400M, for the third meet in a row. Good work.

Congrats to Gabby McKee and Jacqueline Scott for making it to the 100M finals! Jacqueline also ran under 13:00, recording a 12:82 run. Not bad for Gabby and Jackie's first meet of the year!

Khalil Samuel, Jaeden Ricketts, Jayden Benford and Xavier Thompson ALL make the finals for the 100M for Boys 7/8. For the 9/10, Willie John marked his first AAU performance with a gold medal and an outstanding 15.80. Also making it to finals for 9/10 was Alijah Binford and Quan McKee. We have a powerhouse crew this year!

Boys 9/10 sprinter Cameron Newton picks up two more PBs for his 200M and 400M. Cameron has improved his 400M every meet this year, this time driving his time down to 1:09.87.  Cameron also earned three silver medals!

Dalyn Sheppard inching his way toward the 1 minute mark in his 400M (1:04.15), picking up a Gold medal (and also one in his 100M).

And finally, Quin Pollock clocks a 5:16.65 in his 1500M for Boys 13/14, chopping almost 25 seconds off his last time. Quin has had improvement every time has has ran the 1500M. Will he try for 5:10 next time? We'll find out!

Springfield Invitational (5/25)

Week 3 of summer track went well, as the Ohio Rockets tr avelled to Springfield to compete in The Springfield Track Club's yearly invitational. An updated list of Personal Bests can be found HERE. A special congratulation is in order for the following athletes, who each achieved triple Personal Bests this past weekend: Ahtiona Carterm Maya Carter, Khalil Samuel ,Michael-Steven Frazier, Shemar Samuel. Now on with the Weekly Wrapup.

The Ohio Rockets welcome back Shemar Samuel, Sydney Williams, and Alijah Binford, as well as newcomers Shianne Johnson (11/12 Girls) and Xavier Thompson & Jayden Benford (who are joining The New Crew of 8-Under Boys).

The JawDropper Award for a shockingly great performance in a single race is a three-way tie this week between Aman Thornton, who ran an insane 2:21 in his 800M Run, Shemar Samuel, who blew this webmaster away with his 1:01 time in the 400M dash his first time out this summer, and Dalyn Sheppard, who ran an earthshattering 13.11 and won the Gold against some exceptionally seasoned competition! Well done!

Congratulations to Ahtiona Carter for improving her 200M time for the third consecutive week. She has gone from 32 to 31 to 30 in the span of 15 days. On the Boys side, Cameron Newton continues to impress in the 400M, bringing his time down from 1:12 to 1:11 to 1:10. Very nice!

Leah Bennett, Ohio Rocket's Primary Runner, nabbed herself two Personal Bests and a Gold in the Shot Put and Bronze in the 400M! Not a bad day's work, Leah!

Congratulations to Michael-Steven Frazier for chopping 12 seconds off his 800M Run since the season began.  He is definitely on a mission.

Very impressive debut performance by Shianne Johnson last weekend. She narrowly missed the finals for the 100M, but the time she put up was indeed reflective of a well-seasoned sprinter. She also earned fifth place in the 400M Dash. Great work!

Columbus Track & Field Classic (5/19)

Note that we now are including a complete list of Ohio Rockets Personal Bests on the website - click here to see!

The Ohio Rockets welcomes many new faces this year to the world of AAU/USATF. We look forward to watching our children progress throughout the summer and show them how hard work pays off. Please join us each week for the highlights of the weekend activities, The Weekly Wrapup. Let's get started!

In the 9/10 girls division - Hailey Holleman comes out swinging by busting under 16:00 to get into finals with 15:83 and landing a place on the podium out of 31 entries. Round 2 for Hailey is another Personal Record in the 200M and another spot on the podium out of 38 contestants. Hot on her heels in the 100M was none other than Paige Williams, who narrowly missed getting into the finals, but put up a respectable time.

Congratulations to Luxarrie Floyd, making it into the finals in the 100M dash, in the heavily contested  11/12 year old girls division.

Veteran long jumper Sky Harris sets a Personal Record and picks up a 4th place ribbon.

Zakyah Snead sets a Personal Record right off the bat in the 400M run.

Taija Dudley earns two Personal Records in her 100M/200M runs. Taija also comes dangerously close to breaking under the 3:00 mark in her 800. Fabulous.

Ah'Chaunti Vaughn qualifies for a final spot in the 100M, taking home 6th place in the 13/14 girls division.

The New Crew of 8-Under Rocket boys, Terris Dudley, Tahir Farquharson,  and Shayne Dalton represented the Rockets in the debut home-opener last weekend. We will be following their progress closely. Special congratulations to Terris, finishing 11th  out of  39 entries in the highly-competitive 100M.

Newcomer Cameron Newton improves his time in every event from last week’s Blackwell meet, earning ribbons in the 100M/200M/400M in the 9/10 boys. Also making it to the finals was veteran runner Jaylen Hudson, who is no stranger to competition.

Due to some technical difficulties, Michael-Steven Frazier's times were not recorded properly for his 800M/1500M, but for the fans that were privileged to witness him run, they were quite impressed. Michael-Steven ran a steady race, coming on strong in the last lap of his 1500M, bypassing several competitors, and fought to the finish where he maintained his lead. Michael-Steven actually came across the line in  6th place, but more importantly, he set  a Personal Record! Great job!

Maurice Carreker brings home the bronze in his field specialty event, the shotput!

Aman Thornton is back on the track. and not only wins his heat with the next person six seconds behind, but sets a Personal Record with 1:02.60. Will Aman break under 1:00 this year? 

Boys 13-14 Quin Pollock receives a 7th place ribbon in the 1500M and 4th in the high jump. Nice job!

That is all for now, Rockets fans, but check back next week, when we will welcome back middle school runners Shemar Samuel and Sydney Williams.

WEEKLY WRAPUP (2012)

Midwest Championships (7/14)

The Midwest Championships closed out the local AAU/USATF summer season, and on a rainy note, for sure. This webmaster was in attendance for the excitement, and what a way to close the season! Results are summarized below:

As noted earlier in this blog, the return of Camille Trotman would be impressive, and it was. Her 100M Dash time of 14:44 placed her first, as the Rockets Bantam Sprint Assault team swept all medals (plus a 5th place ribbon). Camille also high jumped an astounding 4'2", only 2 inches off her Personal Best of 4'4". Camille is ranked #2 in the entire nation on Eliteyouth.com for High Jump Bantam Girls, and top 2% for her 100M running this year! We will be cheering her on as she competes in Houston, TX at the end of the month in the AAU Jr. Olympics.

Speaking of Bantam Sprinting, please check out the Bantam Girls 4x100 video on the Ohio Rockets home page. The filmographer (a.k.a. webmaster) apologizes for the lack of quality, but you can surely see that this team did run the relay in 57:79. Amazing. With only one run-through for this relay, the time they clocked would have been enough to put them on the podium at last year’s USATF Jr. Olympics for Bantams and 13th out of 60 at the AAU Jr. Olympics. Teammates Bailey Smith, Camille Trotman, Luxarrie Floyd, and Shaniya Samuel were indeed Bantam phenoms, with this run alone ranking them 26th out of 348 in the nation. Hats off to excellence.

Primary Hailey Holleman earns Gold, Silver and Bronze this meet in the 100M, 200M, and Long Jump!

Girls Shot Put Team rakes the medals in:  Tashara Bennett gets a Personal Best (and a Gold Medal) with her throw of 14-04.50!  Kayla White earns Gold also, with an impressive, 25-10 to win the Midget Girls division. Tavia Carreker takes a Silver in the Intermediate Girls division.

Boys Shot Put Team doesn’t disappoint either, with Jeremiah Desper getting Silver, Joshua Benson-Hall getting Gold, and Maurice Carreker also bringing the Gold home.

Aman Thornton (Gold) and Jermichael Desper (Silver) take top honors in Midget Long Jump.

Josiah Childress likes to keep the crowd gasping, and with yet another down-to-the-wire race, he does just that and gets another great 800M time of 2:53 and a Silver medal. Nice work!

Gold and Silver for Sydney Williams and Shaniya Samuel this week for both in the 100M and 200M. Note that Shaniya is ranked on Eliteyouth.com as follows: top 7% 100M Dash, top 4% 200M Dash, top 9% 400M Dash. Impressive resume.

Luxarrie Floyd takes home two bronze in her individual events (100M and 200M).

This was the debut meet for Zaire Payne, who gets a Bronze Medal her first time out in her 400M Dash!

Shemar Samuel easily takes a bronze for his 100M and a silver for his 200M. Little brother Khalil runs for bronze in both the 200M and 400M. Sprinting is in the Samuel blood apparently.

Kendall Smith wins his heat and overall 4th with his 200M Dash!

Kevin Moore dipped his toe into sprinting (200M) and gets a Bronze.

Kevin White earns a Silver in 400M Dash.

Silver and Bronze in the 800M  for the Desper brothers - Jermichael and Jeremiah. 

USATF Region 5 National Qualifier (7/5-7/8)

The USATF Region 5 Qualifier was held over the weekend, with contestants from four states in attendance. (Kentucky, West Virginia,  Ohio, and Michigan). This meet was no joke, as only the top 5 in each event would advance to the Jr. Olympics in Baltimore.

Aman Thornton, fresh from winning the Ohio State Hershey 800M Midget Boys Gold Medal, was riding high with confidence, and he would need it. The 800M Midget Boys event had 3 National Medalists competing, along with 8 of the 14 entrants already clocking times under 2:40.  In a fight down to the finish line ribbon, Aman would capture 4th place, with a PB of 2:29:10. In fact, places 4-6 would ALL run 2:29 times, but because Aman had the determination NOT to lose, he was able to advance to the Jr. Olympics. The sixth place finisher, behind Aman by .41, would not be so fortunate. Great job Aman! 

Maurice Carreker will be attending the Jr. Olympics also, competing in two events: the 1500M Run and the Shot Put. We'll be watching to see how he fares, particularly in the Shot Put.

Youth Runner Devahn Jackson again proves that he is an Ohio Phenom when it comes to sprinting, and now you can add Long Jump to that.  Devahn has jumped 19 ft during his school season, and we hope to see that number at Nationals!

Ahtiona Carter qualified in the Shot Put with a throw of 18-06.00. Ahtiona is a natural at the Shot Put, as she easily brought home a Silver medal.

Good Luck to the Ohio Rockets attending the USATF Jr. Olympics this year. We are very proud of you!

Ohio State Hershey Track Meet (6/23)

Coming soon!

USATF Ohio Association Qualifier (6/23-6/24)

Brief highlight summary of our USATF Ohio Association Meet:

The Ohio Rockets had a challenging meet, with 7 athletes advancing to the Regionals. Attendance was definite up at this qualifier, probably more than twice the normal numbers this webmaster has seen in previous years.  In the end, we were able to advance 70% of our runners. Congratulations to ALL the Rockets who competed this weekend.

Devahn Jackson, Maurice Carreker, and Sydney Williams all qualified for the Regionals in 3 events. Very impressive in a meet of this size.

Zakyah Snead and Tiseari Addishin, our middle/long distance Midget Girls runners, scored Season Bests times at Cedarville. Both girls improved their times in the 800M Run.

Aman Thornton advances to the Regionals, setting a PB in the 800M with a 2:34. Aman had VERY competitive Midget Boys 800M Run. Great job, Aman!

Two-year veteran runner Kevin Moore had VERY tough competition this year. Kevin advances through to the Regionals with his 1500M Run. Nice job. Rookie Robert Smoot got his feet wet this year in AAU/USATF Track and competed in the 100M and 200M Dashes.

The Carter girls advanced to the Regionals in two events each: Ahtiona threw an amazing Shot Put distance, landing a GOLD Medal for her first ever attempt at a meet. No surprise that Aylessa advanced in the 800M, as she has made this event her own. It was sister against sister in the 400M Dash, and both were able to qualify for Regionals.

The Columbus Panthers Invite (6/16/2012)

Triple Threat Shout-Out go to the boys this week -  Khalil, Tavares, and Kendall! Way to rock three Personal Bests in one meet! And as if the temperatures weren't hot enough, the Rockets heated up the track in what this webmaster considered the biggest invitational in Central Ohio this year. This was a great meet to see where you stood in Ohio. If you walked away with a ribbon or medal, you did well.

Debut meet this week for Kevin and Kayla. Welcome to the wonderful world of AAU/USATF Track & FIeld!

BSA - BANTAM SPRINT ASSAULT - It continued again. No surprise that our Bantam Girl Rockets medaled and "ribboned" endlessly, with Luxarrie  grabbing GOLD in the 200M Dash (an event where the first five places were separated by .25 of a second, 31.27 through 31.53). Congratulations Luxarrie! Shaniya shined in the 100M and took home bronze. Other members of the BSA include Amara, Athtiona, Aylessa, Sky, and Bailey.

Congrats to Jermichael for scoring a PB in his 200M dash this weekend! Way to go!

Ohio Rockets Shot Put Team scored big this weekend: Tashara & Brooke (2nd & 3rd), Coleman (2nd), Josiah (first), Kayla (3rd), Shanell (4th), Joshua (7th), Jeremiah (10th) Rylei (5th) and Tavia (5th). Special congrats to Joshua with a new Personal Best of 23 feet & 3 inches AND to Josiah for his amazing 19-02 throw!

Daja, our primary running machine, earns a silver AND gold medal for the 800M and 1500M run.  Daja was one of two Rockets to double-medal this weekend.

Hailey slices her 100M time down to 16.13, putting her in the top 5% for "Under 9" girls 100M dash, according to Eliteyouth.com. She is ranked 194 out of 3,336 girls in the entire United States!

Sky earns a ribbon this week in the Long Jump AND a PB with 9 ft, 4 in!
   
Two landmark breakthrough Personal Bests this week - Shemar marks another PB with his 400M (103:13), digging deep and ALMOST reading the 1:02 range. Next time, Shemar, next time. Also, kudos to Jeremiah  for throwing over 20 feet this week. Keep it coming. The Ohio Rockets love Personal Bests!

The Zakyah Saga: For FIVE STRAIGHT WEEKS Zakyah has improved her 400M dash, landing her 6th place this week. Will this continue? Tune in next week and see if Zakyah can chop another second off her time to get her into the 1:10 range.

Worthington Summer Classic (6/9/2012)

Hmmm, it's a long list... where to begin... Let's start with this week's Personal Bests!

Triple Threat Shout-Out (three Personal Bests in a meet) this week go to Tashara B., Azariah B., Aylessa C., Sonny B., Jeremiah D., and Josiah C., who improved their performances in all three of their events. This is the spirit of what the Ohio Rockets are about - continual improvement.

Speaking of continual improvement, two Midget sprinters improve their times For the FOURTH week in a row, Zakyah S. drops her 400M time (1:11.99), nabbing the bronze medal for Midget girls, while fellow sprinter Sydney W. betters her time in the 200M to 29.15. Now that is progress.

"Webmaster's Race of the Week" goes to Josiah C. Running the 800M, Josiah went neck and neck with his opponent the entire race. Josiah not only snatched the gold medal by refusing to accept a loss of any kind, he beat his opponent by 5/100s of a second AND chopped 16 seconds off his time with a 2:48.63!

Was there a scout in the audience this week? I'm not sure, but Shemar S. ran his events like it was the NFL Combine, including his 400M run at 1:05 (winning his heat with the next person over 7 seconds behind him). Shemar also broke into the top 8% on Eliteyouth.com in his 200M, with a 27.84.

Maurice C. improves his Shot Put to 18 ft 9 in. Maurice also brought home silver in the 800M and qualified for finals in the 200M. 'Twas a good week for Maurice.

Debut performances this week include Coleman P. in the Shot Put, throwing 17-07 to earn the silver medal.  Damien P. qualified for finals in the Bantam Boys 100M Dash.

Sky H. won the silver medal out of 9 jumpers this weekend, in the highly-contested Bantam Girls Long Jump.

Rookie Rocket Runner Gabrielle M. breaks into the top 10% on Eliteyouth.com with her 100M time of 13:08. Impressive!

Bantam Girl Sprint Team swept the 400M Dash (Shaniya/Gold, Aylessa/Silver, and Luxarrie/Bronze). Hats off to the 100M qualifiers (Shaniya, Luxarrie, Amara, and Athtiona) where Shaniya and Luxarrie hit paydirt again with silver and gold medals (respectively). 200M qualifying team dominated again, with Shaniya (2nd), Luxarrie (3rd), Athtiona (6th), and Aylessa (7th). 

The twins turned it up this week, with Athtiona qualifying for finals in both 100M and 200M sprint, only to meet up with her sister in the 200M finals, as Aylessa qualified too! Special congratulations to Aylessa on her 800M run, breaking the 3:00 mark good-and-plenty with 2:56. This is her 3rd straight meet with improvement.

Up-and-coming Sub-Bantam Girl sprinter Hailey H. qualifies for final rounds in the 100M and 200M Dashes (taking home 4th place and 8th place) and jumped for the silver medal in the Long Jump. 

Next week - the return of Camille.

Springfield Invitational (5/26/2012)

The Ohio Rockets would like to thank Tony Moss and the Springfield Track Club for hosting this favorite yearly event  over the past weekend at Wittenberg University. The Rockets took on the track (and the heat, as temperatures reached 91ºF) to achieve both top honors and Personal Bests. Read on for the highlights to Saturday's meet.

Congratulations to Kevin M. for being the first Rocket this year to bring home 3 gold medals (in a single meet) Saturday in the 400M/800M/1500M events. Kevin ran 4:43 for his first-ever AAU run of the 1500M.

For the third week in a row, Zakyah S. improves her marks. Bringing home the gold in the 800M, she chopped her time by 4 seconds this week, with a winning time of 2:54.  Setting a Personal Best in the 400M with 1:13, she landed a 4th place ribbon.

Aman T. and Shemar S. battled it out again in the 400M dash, garnishing 3rd and 4th place respectively. Both boys set Personal Bests, with times of 1:03 and 1:04. With this weekly dual continuing, who will be the first to 1:00 flat?? Stay tuned....

Khalil S. brings home a bronze in the 100M and a silver in the 400M this weekend. Great job Khalil!

Sprinter Sydney W. nabs a gold medal in the 400M run this weekend. Bigger kudos go to Sydney for breaking under 30 seconds in the 200M dash, setting a Personal Best with 29.87!

Primary shot-putter Tashara B. goes for gold (and gets it!), setting a Personal Best of  12-07.00. Not to be outdone, Maurice C. wins gold also, with a Personal Best of  15-09.00 for the Primary Boys division.

Debut performance by Robert S.  this meet lands him gold in the High School 200M dash.

Alijah B. earns a Personal Best for his 100M dash, while Jayden B. breaks his own records in both the 100M and 400M dashes! Good work!

And finally this week, Luxarrie F. and Shaniya S. continue their assault on the Bantam sprints, both earning top spots for all they competed in. But who is that sneaking up behind them with her own Personal Best in the 200M - our very own Bailey Smith!

Columbus Track & Field Classic (5/19/2012)

This USATF opener at Jesse Owens Stadium always brings out the best, attracting elite competition from out of state and showing runners where they stand not only on a local level, but a multi-state level as well.

This week's wrapup starts out with several Personal Bests, including Aylessa C.'s 800M run at 3:01, down 4 seconds from her season best of 2011.

Siblings Shemar and Shaniya captured 5 top awards between them in their sprints (100, 200, 400).

Sydney W. improves her Personal Best time in the 200M Dash to 30.20. 

Newcomer Haily H. picked up a 5th place out of 33 sub-bantam girls in the 100M dash with a 16.76 qualifying time.

Luxarrie F. is back this year, shining strong in the 100M and 200M dashes, qualifying for finals in both of these and earning 5th and 8th place, respectively.

Veteran runner Aman T. (and also 2011 Ohio State Hershey 400 meter champion) grabbed the bronze medal for the 800 meter run last weekend, with a Personal Best of 2:40. Aman faced stiff competition in this event, competing against 15 other boys to earn his medal.

As usual, Devahn J. placed in all his events, including 7th place in the highly competitive Youth Boys 100M Dash, a new personal best (and 2nd place) in the 200M Dash with an impressive 24.03, and placing 2nd in the Long Jump with 18.00.25 (only .25 an inch separated Devahn from the first place winner).

Field event winners from our shotput team included gold medalist Brooke N. and silver medalistsTashara B. and Tavares W. Congratulations!

And finally for this week - Kevin M., who pulled 3rd place in his 400M Dash with a Personal Best of 54.93.  Keep your eye out for Kevin in the 400M.

Gail A. Blackwell Invitational (5/12/2012)

No summary available for this meet.