Waza Track Club completed the highlight of its season by competing in the AAU Junior Olympics in Hampton Virginia (7/31 – 8/7) with some stellar performances.  11 athletes had qualified in the Michigan Region Meet and 9 made the trip to Virginia to compete at nationals.  For all but one athlete, this was their first trip to Junior Olympics and competing at a national level in track and field.  Highlights include:

James Weekley (12 yrs) became Waza TC's first national level medalist finishing 6^th in the 1500m with a time of  4:55.03.  In the 800m he finished with a new Personal Record (PR) moving up in the national rankings from 30^th to 14^th.

Zach Westenberg (10 yrs) completed the 800m with a new PR of 2:43.14.

Tom Brokaw (16yrs) threw the Javelin a new PR of 93' 4”.

Rachel Toloday (9 yrs) completed the 1500m with a new PR of 6:43.44.  Since the beginning of the season, Rachel improved her time in the event by over 1 minute.

Katie Pierre-Louis (12 yrs) put her hard training to good use and threw the discus a new PR of 54' 3” besting her previous mark by over 18'.  She moved up in the national rankings from 36^th to 20^th.

Claire Ford (13 yrs) improved her 3000m national qualifying time by over 50 seconds, finishing in 12:12.94.  She improved her national rank from 38^th to 25^th.

Waza TC is pictured below:

Pictured above:

First Row - Coach Doug McDowell

Second Row – Claire Ford, Jordan Weekley, Rachel Toloday, Zach Westenberg, Melanie McDowell, Jordan Turner, Westy Westenberg

Third Row – Rani Richardson, James Weekley, Josh Holcomb, Filip Stankiewicz, Randi Richardson, Danielle Tonne, Katie Pierre-Louis, Jean-Luc Pierre-Louis

Not Pictured: Tom Brokaw, Andrew Crechiolo, Shelby Davis, Gino D'Orazio, Mirad Hadzialijagic, Skylar Howard,  Becka Knox, Lilly, Maddy, and Erica Lucas,   Jack Lukomski, Sarah Monte,  Blake and Natalie Nowicki, Zach Obsniuk, Sanjam Singh, Jarnal Singh