Six local athletes shine at AAU meet

By Mike Zummo
Posted 8/7/19

Six athletes reached the podium for the Newburgh Elite Track Club last week at the AAU track and field junior Olympics at Aggies Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

“I think we did a great …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Six local athletes shine at AAU meet

Posted

Six athletes reached the podium for the Newburgh Elite Track Club last week at the AAU track and field junior Olympics at Aggies Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.

“I think we did a great job,” Newburgh Elite Track Club coach Malcolm Burks said. “We were running against all-star teams from as far away as Puerto Rico and Texas. Every state was represented.

Ryler Gould had Newburgh’s best finish when he took third in the men’s 400-meter hurdles in the 17-18-year-old division with a time of 53.08 seconds on Tuesday, July 31, shaving more than a second off his preliminary time.

Ironically, it wasn’t Gould’s best time.

“He’s ran it faster,” Burks said. “He’s run it a second and change faster.”

He almost didn’t run it at all. Because of a change in timing at the meet, Gould almost didn’t make it to the starting line for the championship race.

“We had a hiccup,” Burks said. “He had to jump over the rails. Because of the time trials, they sped things up. Another minute and he would have missed the race.”

Gould qualified for the championship race by finishing second in his heat with a time of 54.43, behind the 53.41 of Cory Berg of Mount Vernon, Ohio. Berg finished fourth in the finals.

James Tharpe also reached the podium for Newburgh Elite when he finished eighth in the boy’s shot put 15-16-year-old division with a throw of 14.27 meters, or 46 feet, 11 ¾ inches.
Tharpe returned to field events the following day, finishing 17th in the discus with a throw of 39.43 meters.

“Coming back to finish 17th in the discus was impressive as well.”

Newburgh finished the meet on Saturday, Aug. 3 on a high note when the 4x400-meter relay team (15-16-year-olds) Matthew Worrell, Esteban Lopez, James Onwuka, and Reilly Mazzetti took fourth place with a time of 3:20.92.

“We come out of Region 1,” Burks said. “I believe that’s a Region 1 record. They felt really good.”

Burks said he is trying to get it verified that Newburgh set a new record.

Xavier Williams finished 51st in his preliminary heat in the 200-meter hurdles (14 year-old) in 28.56 and Amaury Ruud recorded a time of 59.28 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles (15-16-year-old).

Williams was also 54th in his preliminary heat of the 400-meter dash (14-year-olds) with a time of 55.5 seconds.

The club’s 400-meter relay team of Ruud, Esteban Lopez, James Onwuka, Matthew Worrell were 36th in 44.76 seconds.

Maleek Powell was 45th in his heat of the boys 400-meter dash preliminaries with a time of 50.05 seconds.

Matthew Haynes was 23rd in his heat of the boys’ 800-meter run with a time of 2:02.34.
Newburgh arrived at the meet in Greensboro on Saturday, July 27, for the meet and came back to Newburgh on Sunday, Aug. 4. That’s a lot of time in close quarters for the 11 athletes.

“You become a family,” Burks said. “It’s like a house full of brothers. We’re in the van almost 10 hours driving there and back. You have to bond, and I find it becomes a great thing.”