Running is just a hobby or a way to stay in shape some might say, but not for junior Fernando Gonzales or seniors Ian Rowan and Sean Jahedi. Everything has changed now that they have the title of Junior Olympian.
The USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, also known as the USATF Junior Olympics, is an annual track and field competition for American athletes between the ages of seven and 18. Qualifying for the competitions is dependent upon performances at the state level, then moving on to regional championships.
“I started running track because I always knew I was fast in elementary, ” Gonzales said. “I really liked track because it’s a very individualized yet team working sport, I quickly learned this is something I would want to do for as long as I can.”
Olympians Rowan, Gonzales, and Jahedi have all gone or qualified for the junior olympics in their high school careers. With their own respective events, their training regimes all share something in common, hard work.
“It starts with a lot of prepping and a lot of training, hard practices every day, making sure your body’s healthy to succeed in districts,” Gonzales said. “Which is the first step to get to the junior Olympics”
Rowan likes to prepare mentally throughout the whole year, he said he’ll break his season down and go back to November when he runs long distance, then school season it’s a mix of both distance running and speed work and summer ends up mainly being speed work.
“The closer you get to Junior Olympics the more and more speed work you do,” Rowan said. “While we compete in meets and qualify all the way up to Junior Olympics, the work is already done, you can’t really get any better, you just have to maintain what you already have and keep pushing.”
In order to meet the requirements for the Junior Olympics you are required to race and qualify in three races, making top 16 in Districts, top eight in Regionals, and top four in finals.
“Qualifying was definitely more competitive because it was people from all across the country and there were a lot of really fast kids,” Jahedi said. “Running my events at bigger meets has made me feel more confident in what I do, and it definitely just helped me perform better overall.”
Gonzales said that the work he puts into this sport and the meets he runs at goes beyond the title of Junior Olympian or winning a medal.
“As an athlete I try to stay humble, work hard, always, because you never know what could happen and what’s next,” Gonzalez said. “Someone who has always inspired me to keep running track and keep working hard and being great is Sha’carri Richardson, throughout all her trials and tribulations in life, she still stays strong and perseveres through her hard moments.”
Gonzales said he looks up to Richardson because he’s had to face his own trials with this sport.
“Despite my hamstring injury, I really want to try again for the Junior Olympics this year,” Gonzalez said. “I need to make sure I am working hard every day, pushing my limits at practice, showing up, taking care of my body and my mind and just working towards the goals I have for this year.”
