Four Virginia high school athletes competed last week at the USATF Junior Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa with the top performer being Chantilly distance runner Sean McGorty as he made the finals of the men's 1500 after a 3:51.16 prelim performance on Thursday, June 21st to make him the second fastest qualifier and excellent position to make the Pan Am Junior Games team for the United States. In the finals on the following day on Friday, June 22nd, McGorty found himself with the leaders and front group throughout was unable to finish strong enough to claim one of those automatic spots on the US junior national team with a fourth place finishing time of 3:49.26, which converts to a 4:06.11 for 1600 meters and 4:07.53 for 1 mile run. Not far off his Penn Relays race record and personal best mile performance back in late April for the 2013 New Balance Outdoor Nationals two mile champion.
Another Northern Region all-time great made the trip out to Des Moines in South County's Felecia Majors, who had skipped the New Balance Nationals in the previous weekend. Majors was entered in both the 400 and long jump on the same day, but scratched out out of the 400 to focus only on the long jump as she came in as the top seed and favorite with a personal best over 20 feet. Unfortunately, the decision did not pay off as she had a subpar day in leaping 17'9.75" for 10th place. Next up for Majors is a collegiate career at the University of Tennessee.
Earlier in the meet, both Liberty Christian Academy senior Micah Brickhill and Battlefield junior Ellison Grove competed in the women's 800 prelims. The University of Virginia recruit Brickhill was 14th in 2:13.00 and the Group AAA 800 state champ Grove was 15th in 2:13.21.
Results & More Coverage on USATF Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships