Story and photos by Matt Decker
Leisure/Sports editor

A group of Fort Leonard Wood youth track and field athletes are burning up the track this summer.

Several local members of the Springfield Track Club recently qualified to compete in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics, scheduled Monday through July 29 in Baltimore, Md., and the Amateur Athletic Union’s Junior Olympics, scheduled July 28 through Aug. 4 near Houston, Texas.

Members of the Springfield Track Club started training back in March with the Youth Sports Track Program at Pippin Youth Center. Following the completion of that season, the club met under the direction of coaches Jamie Eckford and Faheen Mujahid, along with team administrative clerk Tiffany Francis, and began competing in AAU and USATF competitions.

Through AAU and USAT, boys and girls compete in nine age divisions from 8-and-under through high school. During the regional championships for both organizations, the top five in each event advanced to the Junior Olympics.

Local club members who qualified at the USAT Region 9 championships July 8 in Lawrence Kansas included the following:

— Jahra Francis, age 7, took second in the 100-meter dash in the Sub-Bantam Girls division with a time of 18.28, and also took second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 38.65.

— Tasha Bedell, 12, took second in the 100-meter dash in the Midget Girls division with a time of 14.02 in the finals.

— Jayda Eckford, 12, took first in the 400-meter run in the Midget Girls division with a time of 1:06.08. Earlier, she took second in the 200-meter dash (29.39).

— Makkah Mujahid, 10, took second (1:07.53) in the 400-meter dash in the Midget Girls division, and took third in the 800-meter run (2:50.63).

— Ariel Okorie, 13, took first in the 100-meter hurdles in the Youth Girls division with a time of 16.44 in the finals, then took first in the 200-meter hurdles with a time of 30.43. Okorie also took second in the Outdoor Pentathlon.

— Jamie Eckford, 16, took first place in the 800-meter run in the Intermediate Girls division with a time of 2:23.93.

 

— The Springfield Track Club took fourth place in the 4x400-memter relay in the Intermediate Girls division with a time of 4:30.73.

— Faheem Mujahid, 8, took fifth place in the 400-meter dash in the Sub-Bantam Boys division.

Local club members also participated in the AAU Area 16 Junior Olympic Games, held June 28 through July 1 on the Missouri Southern campus in Joplin, Mo. Among those who advanced:

— Makkah Mujahid, who took second in both the girls’ 400-meter dash, Sub-Midget Division, with a time of 1:08.15, and the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:35.18.

— Jayda Eckford also took second in the Girls Midget Division 400-meter dash with a time of 1:04.83.