Nine Chino Pumas youth track and field athletes and Ayala High sophomore Joshua Komrosky competed July 22 to 27 at the U.S. Track and Field National Junior Olympic Championships held at Savannah State University in Georgia.
Komrosky, a junior at Ayala High, captured the boys’ 15-16 discus event title with a throw of 180-08 (a personal best), winning by more than 4 1/2 feet over second-place finisher Auggie Yonkey of Mapleton, Minnesota.
There were 64 competitors in the 15-16 discus event.
Komrosky added a fourth-place finish in hammer throw at 172-11 and a fifth-place finish in shot put at 51-9.75. He was the only boy in the competition to place in the top five in three throws events.
“My dad told me to throw it as hard as I can,” said Komrosky, who finished seventh in discus at the CIF State Track and Field Championships in May in Fresno.
Chino Pumas athletes Torrey Gurule, Elona Jackson, Jace Wiggs, Kevin McLean, Nya Corral, Deshawne Jackson, Megan Kwock, Tiago Avila and Quincy Holmes advanced to nationals after earning qualifying spots at the USATF Region 15 Championships in Las Vegas in June.
Gurule placed 18th in girls’ 8U 800m in 3:05.35 and Jackson placed 36th in 9-10 girls’ high jump at 2-11.5.
Wiggs, who competed in the boys’ 9-10 division, placed seventh in triathlon, 16th in long jump and 43rd in 400m. McLean placed ninth in the semifinals of the boys’ 9-10 200m in 28.11 and 19th in the semifinals of the 100 in 13.93.
Corral took 14th in girls’ 11-12 javelin with a throw of 80-09.
In the boys’ 11-12 division, Jackson placed 17th in pentathlon with 1,543 points and 29th in 80m hurdles in 14.28.
Kwock placed 21st in girls’ 13-14 high jump at 4-07 and 41st in long jump at 14-05.
Competing in the boys’ 15-16 division, Avila placed 19th in javelin at 125-0 and Holmes took 65th in long jump 16-6.5.