Justin-Siena junior claims national title in long jump

Athletes from the Napa Track Club collected five medals and set five personal records at the 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. The meet was held July 3-8 on the campus of Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill.

This year’s competition was the deepest in recent memory, with more than 2,000 of the nation’s top youth track and field athletes in attendance. All participants were required to meet stringent performance standards before their entries were accepted.

The competition was divided into the same age groups as those used by the USATF Junior Olympic program, with divisions for bantam (10 and under), midget (11-12), youth (13-14), intermediate (15-16) and young men/women (17-18). The Napa Track Club had 16 athletes who took part in the meet.

The club’s best performance was turned in by Kevin Cardey in the intermediate division of the long jump. After finishing fifth in the morning qualifying round of jumps, Cardey soared to a new personal record of 21 feet, 4 inches on his second attempt in the finals. That mark vaulted him into the lead, and the distance held up as none of the other competitors could surpass him with their remaining jumps. The Justin-Siena High School junior earned the gold medal and was crowned national champion.

Another highlight was turned in by Ashley Augustus in the midget girls 1,500-meter racewalk. Her time of 8:58 was good enough to take second place. This was the Harvest Middle School seventh grader’s first experience competing in a national meet.

The club’s most experienced athlete also earned a silver medal. Susan Jackson tied for the best height cleared in the young women’s high jump (5-83⁄4), but lost a tie-breaker that dropped her into second place. Jackson has been a member of Napa Track Club since 1999, and this will be her final season of competition in youth track events.

Jennifer Cardey took home a medal for her performance in the youth girls triple jump finals. Her leap of 30-6 earned the Justin-Siena freshman sixth-place honors.

The biggest surprise of the week came in the young men’s high jump competition. Dominic Giovannoni came into the event as one of the youngest competitors in his division. He was ranked 16th and not expected to contend for a medal. But he set a new personal best mark (6-1) and managed to move up into eighth place and earn the final place on the medal stand.

The club had several other noteworthy performances. Its 4x800 midget girls relay team improved its personal best mark by nearly 20 seconds, and just missed making the medal stand with a ninth place finish. The team was made up of Taylor Hollabaugh, Mackenzie Mills, Claire Miller and Ashley Augustus.

The team’s youngest member, 9-year-old Erin Mills set a new personal best time in the bantam girls 1500 meters (6:03).

Eric Zoller’s clocking of 24.90 in the youth boys 200 meters was also a personal record.

Other club members who qualified and competed in the meet were Chris Bozzini, Brendan Cardey, Lauren Cardey, Megan Zoller, Anthony Zoller and Mario Giovannoni.

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