Under cold and bitter conditions of 22 degrees, nine degrees with the wind chill, seven Athletics East Running Club members took center stage …
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It was a good way to end the 2019 summer running campaign.
The Athletics East trio of Friedrich Stelzer, Juan Diego Contreras and Emily Johnson were on the journey of a lifetime at the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships from July 22-28 at CSU Sacramento in California.
Already facing more than 3,000 of the best harriers, 10 Athletics East participants had to deal with high elevation, below freezing temperatures, snow and mud on Dec. 8 at the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships in Reno, Nev. As the program’s first team to compete on the national stage, this group finished 13th out of 19 teams.
The Athletics East track group broke the seal on the Junior Olympic slate with a solid opening performance at the two-day Portland Track Festival this past weekend at Liberty High School in Hillsboro. While facing male and female runners from 49 other clubs ranging in ages from eight and under through 18, Conor Blair, Emily Johnson, Vivian Harrah and Liz Tapia either matched or surpassed their personal records and combined for a handful of top-5 finishes, as this marked the first year AE athletes participated in field events.
While running stride-for-stride with such a competitive group, The Dalles High School freshman Dillon Dorado finished with a time of 18 minutes and 59.30 seconds for 238th in the 15-to-18-year old division and 146th in his 15-to-16 age category at the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals held on Dec. 9 at Apalachee Regional Park, Fla.
Running shoes don’t come cheap these days, and not every high school student has a budget that can cover the cost of new footwear. “I have started a shoe drive where we are asking for anyone with gently used, or new, running shoes laying around, to donate them to benefit the runners at the high school. The shoes we collect would benefit The Dalles High School cross country and track teams,” explained Angela Hanson, whose daughter, Emily Johnson, will be on the school’s cross country team this fall and the track team in the spring.
