Taylor Overcomes Headwind To Post Personal Best 20.66 To Win Men's 17-18 200; Raye Wins Fourth National Title In 23.20

By Keenan Gray of DyeStat

Photos by Hayden Luther

LIVE RESULTS

Tate Taylor of San Antonio Swift Track Club and Amir Thompson of Pflugerville, Texas battled down to the very end of an exciting men’s 200-meter final to conclude Thursday at the USATF National Junior Olympics.

Running into a strong headwind, Taylor managed a personal-best effort of 20.66 seconds (-1.3 m/s) to hold off Thompson’s personal best time of 20.75.

Taylor collected his first national title just two months after finishing fourth in the 200 final at the Texas UIL 6A State Championships, as well as a runner-up finish in the 100.

WATCH THE USATF NATIONAL JUNIOR OLYMPIC CHAMPIONSHIPS ON USATF.TV

Lisa Raye, representing the Providence Cobras, added another national title to her sensational sophomore season, winning the women’s 15-16 200 final in 23.20.

Raye, a sophomore out of Providence, Rhode Island who attends West Warwick High, posted the fastest time of the meet between all divisions, defeating both Skylar Cunningham (24.04) and Renna Rubenstein (24.06) in the final.

Raye’s win makes it four national titles on the season, building upon New Balance Nationals Outdoor titles in the 100 and 200 back in June in Philadelphia and at Nike Indoor Nationals in the 60 in March in New York. She will also race in the 100, starting Friday with the preliminary round.

Mariah Maxwell out of Humble, Texas ran a personal best 23.82 to win the women’s 17-18 200 final over Ryan Jennings in 24.09.

Mark Barajas of El Paso Wings Track Club held off Salman Mohamed to win the men’s 17-18 2,000 steeplechase in a personal-best 6:07.66.

Saylor Stevenson and Madeleine Holland of Texas Titans Track took home gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s 17-18 2,000 steeplechase, with Stevenson running 7:31.51 and Holland running 7:36.04.

Isaac Benjamin from Thriller Track & Field controlled the boys 15-16 2,000 steeplechase with a 23-second victory in 6:02.93.

Lucy Cramer of United Southern Express set a meet record in the girls 15-16 2,000 steeplechase, running 6:56.30 for the win. Eleanor Fulton held the previous best since 2008 in 6:56.97.

Hadley Hanchett of Sun City and Mason Decker of Arkansas Track Club also set meet records of their own in the 13-14 2,000 steeplechase. 

Hanchett bested her own meet record in the girls race by eight seconds, running 7:07.96, and Decker ran 6:38.08 to lower the boys record by four seconds.

Jalen Lott of NTX Jackrabbits broke a meet record in the boys 15-16 long jump with a mark of 24 feet, 3 inches (7.39m), headlining another busy day of field action.

Jaxon Talley from Ultimate Performance surpassed 201 feet (61.26m) in the boys 15-16 javelin competition, winning by over six feet.

Valerie Hunt from Odessa Flying Lions threw a personal best 154-10 (47.21m) to capture the women’s 17-18 discus title.

Jayden Kimble of Greater Houston Track won the girls 15-16 competition, throwing 149-3 (45.49m).

Kya Crooke of Soca Speed Track Club cleared 5-8.75 (1.75m) to best Cali Bryant in the women’s 17-18 high jump competition.

Clearing 5-7 (1.70m) to win the girls 15-16 title was Lilly Stebbins of Cliff Jumpers High Jump Club.

Isaiah Jordan of MINO Foundation hit a mark of 48-4 (14.73m) in the men’s 17-18 triple jump and won by half-an-inch over Alexander Chapman-Evans of Run U Xpress.

Preliminary rounds continued with the top highlight of the day belonging to Zoe Ziglor of Win Sportswear, leading all qualifiers of the women’s 17-18 100 hurdles with a time of 13.91.

Joshua Widdows, representing The Inner Circle Track Club, clocked 14.06 as the fastest time in the men’s 17-18 preliminary round in the 110 hurdles. Vance Nilsson, who advanced in the 400 hurdles on Wednesday, will also advance to the next round of the short hurdles, running 14.47 for third overall.

Makenna Herbst of ProCaliber Sports Track Club ran 2:11.63 as the top qualifier out of the women’s 17-18 800 prelim to advance to the final.

Jordyn Brown of Camarillo, Calif. ran the fastest 800 time of the day in 2:11.93 in the girls 15-16 division.

Keayari Thompson from TakeOff posted a 1:53.09 effort to lead all the men’s 17-18 qualifiers in the 800.