By Nick Desanto

From Jul. 29 through Aug. 4, the Ponte Vedra Pride track team took on the AAU Junior Olympics in Des Moines, Iowa. The athletes in these Junior Olympic Games were junior, Elizabeth “Lizzy” Nuhu, senior, Sasha Crowe, and senior, Vincent Jackson. These were three out of the 8000 people that partook in this meet.

Senior Sasha Crowe, competed in the heptathlon, which is a culmination of events spread over a two day period rather than just one event, the events consist of the: 100 meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meter dash, long jump, javelin and 800 meter run. Crowe started off hot with a 15.65 in the 100 meter hurdles, 1.40 meters in high jump, 7.4 meters in shot put, 26.82 in the 200 meter ending off the first day of Junior Olympics. At the start of the second day, Crowe continued strong with a 4.46 meter jump in long jump, 25.33 meter throw in javelin, and ending off day two with a 2:29.09 800 meter run. Out of these events Crowe got a personal record in the 800 meter, high jump, and 200 meter.

Halfway through the meet Vincent Jackson came in, who competed in the 17-18 javelin competition. Jackson came into the meet seeded ninth and was “looking for a spot on the podium.” Jackson had a crazy first throw with a 50.31 meter throw to kick off the meet. The next throw was around the same distance at 50.25 meters, finishing out the first three throws with a 46.43 meter throw which was enough to propel him into the finals. Jacksons best throw would come in the fifth round out of six, when Jackson threw his eight-and-a-half-foot spear 53.36 meters. Jackson would go on to place fourth and earn All-American status.

Last but not least, junior Lizzy Nuhu, competed in the discus and shot put, Nuhu competed in the shot put with her best throw of a 10.30 meter throw overall placing her in fifteenth place, although this did end up being a PR for her. Moving on to discus Nuhu states that she was “very happy with her results, but she could have done better” Nuhu ended up throwing 35.03 meters which also happened to be a PR for her. Nuhu ended up placing eight and was very happy with her overall performance.

  These three athletes had a great year overall and put in all the work and effort to get to this point and they will continue to strive for success.  

Vincent Jackson (12) finishing in 4th place after competing in the Junior Olympics