Article Contributed on: 8/4/2009 8:38:41 PM
The Parker Panthers wrapped up their 2009 season at the USA Track & Field Regional Junior Olympics Championships in Provo, Utah. The Panthers are a local team that has been in Parker for eight years, focusing on children ages 8 to 14. The Panthers qualified 26 boys and girls for the Regional competition. The top three competitors in each track and field event held at the Colorado State Championship Meet at the end of June qualified for advancement to Regionals.
In the combined events, Joshua Timmons, 14, earned the bronze medal for his third place finish in the Youth Pentathlon (100 meter hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump and 1500 meters). He scored a personal best 1,848 points improving on his silver medal performance at the Colorado championships by nearly 200 points. He achieved personal bests in the hurdles and shot put and won the 1500 meter portion of the pentathlon with a time of 5:15.97. Andrew Timmons, 9, placed 4th in the Bantam Triathlon (shot put, high jump and 400 meter dash). He ran a 1.5 second improvement over his personal best of 1:12.08 in the 400m dash, which performance moved him up three places in the competition. Coach Brent Timmons said, "I was excited to see Josh really break through this year, his fifth year with the Panthers. He improved his 1500m time by 37 seconds from last year and raised his high jump personal best by seven inches clearing 4'9.5" by the end of the season."
Allana Brennan, 10, the Colorado state champion in the Bantam Girls shot put, bettered her state performance by ten inches with a throw of 18'10" which earned her 4th place at Regionals. Ellen Durkin, 11, who took home the bronze medal in the Colorado state meet in the Midget Girls shot put, had a huge improvement of two feet over her personal best throwing 18'3" at the regional competition.
Tomas Estrella, 9, competed in the bantam 1500 meters. He was 3rd at the Colorado State Championship Association with a time of 6:01.86. Youth distance coach Brianna Nelson said, "Tomas is an incredibly hard worker and we look forward to great things from him as he has another year to progress in the Bantam age group."
Jaimee Morand, 11, who won the Midget Girls high jump at the Colorado State meet, achieved a personal best at the Regional competition by jumping 3 feet 9.5 inches and took 5th place.
The Panthers qualified five relay teams for the Regional competition, including 4x100 meter teams for Bantam Girls (A & B Teams), Midget Girls, and Youth Girls. The Youth Girls also qualified in the 4x400 meters.
The Youth (13-14) 4x400m relay team, comprised of Caroline Brown, 14, Corinna Carney, 13, Kim Laverty, 13 and Katherine Smith, 13, took 5th place in Provo in a Panther record of 4:37.70. They qualified for Regionals by finishing 2nd at the Colorado State Championships. Caroline, Corinna, Kim and Katherine also hold the top four spots for fastest times in club history in the open 400 meter dash for Youth girls. This team also competed in the 4x100m and finished 8th place with a Panther record time of 55.99 seconds.
The Midget Girls (11-12) relay team (Emily Smith, 11, Ashley Diefenbach, 11, Alex Darnell, 12, and Jaimee Morand) placed 5th at the Regional meet with their best time of the year, 1:04.12. They qualified as the Colorado State Champions.
Riley Darnell, 10, Allana Brennan, 10, Bethany Kamstra, 10, and Kristen Lutz, 9, led the Panther Bantam relay team to an 8th place finish in Provo after finishing first place at the Colorado Championships. They beat their own state performance time by 3.5 seconds and set the Parker Panther record with a time of 1:04.93.
Relay coach Eileen Smith said, "It was a pleasure coaching this hardworking group of girls for the relays this year. I was thrilled that all of our relay teams made it past the preliminary rounds at Regionals and had the opportunity to compete in the finals. They've worked very hard on their passes and timing and it paid off. Relays are a lot of fun!"
Also qualifying but unable to compete at the Regional Championships were Charlotte Hume, 12 (3rd in the 3000m), Aspen Jeffers, 7 (3rd in the 1500m), Kiera Carney, 10 (3rd place in the shot put), Erin Seeber, 13 (4x400m), Aubrey Hunsaker, 13 (4x100m), and Morgan Berkley, 14 (4x100m). The Panthers Bantam Girls 4x100m "B" team also qualified by finishing second in Colorado. Team members were Molly Kamstra, 8, Maci Cameron, 9, Camryn Leland, 8, and Chloe Jeffers, 10.
Coach Ross Cargo summed up the season, "It always seems that the season goes by so fast. All of our kids really improved from the beginning of the season. Right when they start to figure out what they need to do, the season seems to end. We qualified 26 kids and feel good about that, but we had a large number of other kids that made such good improvement as we went along. I'm proud of all of them, and I hope to see them back next year where they can continue to develop as athletes."
The Parker Panthers are a youth track and field club associated with the United States Track & Field organization. For more information visit: www.eteamz.active.com/parkerpanthers.