Junior Olympic Round-Up ... and Preview!?!

The Junior Olympics are over ... so let's get ready for the Junior Olympics!

That's right the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Championships are in the books. Some 6000 athletes competed in the event in Greensboro, North Carolina, including a handful of Minnesotans.

But, the AAU Junior Olympics have just gotten underway in Des Moines, Iowa, where even more young Minnesotans are testing their budding talents against some of the best youngsters in the nation.

Make sense?

USATF hosts Junior Olympic events in its role as the governing body of track and field in the USA; the Amateur Athletic Union -- once the organization that governed Olympic sport in the country -- hosts JO competition in its role as a promoter of youth sports.


USATF JO Round-Up ... Chris Dallager, USATF-Minnesota's Youth Chair, combed the Greensboro results for DtB and noted the following top-10 finishes by Minnesotans at USATF JOs:

-- Shaina Burns of Prior Lake ... 4th at 5-1 in the Youth Girls' high jump.

-- Charlie Lawrence of Foley ... 6th in 9:52.79 in the Youth Boys' 3000m and 9th in 4:44.97 in the Youth Boys' 1500m.

-- Sean Tyree of the Blake School ... 9th in 6:44.91 in the Young Men's 2000m steeplechase.

Full results from the USATF JO meet can be found HERE.


AAU JOs Underway ... Track and field competition at the AAU Junior Olympic Games began on August 1 and runs through August 8. Dallager expects to see more Minnesotans in the AAU event since it's being held closer to home.

"AAU allows far more qualifiers than does USATF to the national meet," Dallager added, "so there are a far greater number of contestants at AAU."

"Up through the Youth age group," Dallager explained, "AAU runs sub-categories which provides for a single birth year of contestants. As a consequence, the overall quality of contestants in each age group is about 1/2 of that compared to the USATF two year age groups. Winning performances are often comparable but it is easier to place high and medal at AAU as a result of the single year groups."

Minnesota's top-10 placers in the meet so far include:

-- Shaina Burns of Prior Lake ... 2nd with 2998 points in the Sub-Youth Girls pentathlon.

-- Cameron Downey of Minneapolis ... 2nd with 75-8 in the Sub-Midget Girls' discus throw.

-- Johnna Patterson of Cottage Grove ... 5th at 11:52.12 in the Sub-Midget Girls 3000m.

- Paul Akintade of St. Paul ... 6th with 19-8 in the Youth Boys' long jump.

-- Taylor Anderson of Minneapolis ... 6th at 5-0 in the Intermediate Girls high jump.

Find live results as the competition continues through Saturday HERE.