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MySpaceBlackhawk's Angelica Peck will compete in the steeplechase at the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic national championships this week.
By Chuck Curti, Times Assistant Sports Editor
Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008 11:34 PM EDT
Devin Polzot has racked up some serious mileage in his young life — and not just running laps on the track.
Polzot, a member of Aliquippa’s champion WPIAL and PIAA Class AA 400-meter relay team, is making his eighth trip to the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic national championships. The championships will be held Tuesday through Sunday in Omaha, Neb., and Polzot is one of several athletes from the area who qualified.
Polzot will team with Ambridge’s Antoine Burton, Moon Area’s Ray Fisher and Montour’s Matt Bellay. All are members of the Stallions track club, based in Coraopolis.
“The experience is great,” said Polzot, who will be a senior in the fall. “You see talent from all over the country. You get a little vacation, too, so it’s not all business.”
Last year, when the meet was held in California, Polzot took a side trip to Hollywood. Being a veteran of national competitions, Polzot said he’s not star struck at WPIAL and state meets.
“The competition is outrageous. It’s unbelievable. You’re not scared. If you see a guy (at states) run a 10.8 ... I’ve seen guys running 10.6 and 10.5 (at nationals). I’ve seen kids younger than me run faster than me. I do better in the states by running here.”
Polzot said getting in tune with his new relay teammates took some getting used to, and the quartet still has some room for improvement. Polzot and his Aliquippa teammates — Jonathan Baldwin, Rashad Kenney and Dan Sonsini — ran the 400 relay in 42.47 seconds to capture the PIAA Class AA title. His Stallions team is off that mark by a full second.
“We definitely have the potential. I just don’t know if we’re there yet,” Polzot said. “It’s a little different ... but I’m real close with them because we’ve been on the same (track club) for so long.”
Few competitors in Omaha will be as close as Janelle and Jasmine Campbell.
The sisters and Blackhawk High School students — Janelle will be a senior and Jasmine will be a freshman — also are making a repeat trip to nationals.
Members of the Beaver County Track Club, both qualified last year. Janelle, who finished 28th in the triple jump at nationals in 2007, used the experience as a catalyst to finishing second in the WPIAL and seventh in the PIAA in the Class AAA long jump in the spring.
“Not to crack under pressure,” said Janelle about what she learned last year. “Just act like it’s another meet.”
Jasmine will be one of the youngest competitors in her division (intermediate), having moved up from the youth ranks. She placed fifth in the triple jump there last year, and qualified in both the triple and long jumps again this year.
“I’m just going to stay positive and be happy I’m there,” she said. “I was proud that I placed in the top eight (last year).”
The girls said that there’s not a big rivalry between them because of their age difference. Janelle even admitted that her younger sister will one day surpass her.
“I wasn’t as good as she is when I was younger,” she said. “I think she’ll be better as a senior than I am.”
Unlike Polzot and the Campbells, college-bound Chad Lemon of New Brighton is making his first trip.
Lemon took up the pole vault as a freshman, and success soon followed. As a sophomore, he placed fourth in the WPIAL by clearing 12 feet, 9 inches. He duplicated the feat as a junior before winning the Class AA title by clearing 13-6 this spring.
At the PIAA meet, he cleared a personal-best 14 feet to place sixth. He also cleared 14-0 at the regional competition, and that mark remains his best.
He said he’s not going into the USATF competition with any delusions of grandeur.
“From what I’ve seen, there’s actually at least one kid who has gone 17 feet,” said Lemon, who will compete in the young men’s division. “A lot of those kids are above and beyond everyone else.”
Lemon finished second at the regional finals despite having only one practice between then and the state meet. Lemon doesn’t train with a club, so to prepare for nationals, he’s been working with Tim Sullivan, the pole vault coach at West Virginia University.
“If I did 14-6, I’d be happy,” Lemon said about his goal for nationals. “There’s a possibility that I could beat them, but it’s pretty far-fetched.”
Riverside’s John Evans also will be making his first trip to the USATF’s Junior Olympic championships. Like Lemon, Evans found success at his specialty — in this case, the high jump — in a relatively short time.
A basketball player, Evans took up the high jump two years ago to help him on the hardwood. Now, the rising freshman said the high jump has supplanted basketball as his preferred sport.
“I think it’s already above basketball,” he said. “It’s definitely something I love to do.”
Evans, a member of the Beaver County Track Club, finished third in the intermediate division at regionals with a jump of 5-7, and his personal best is 5-10. Considering that 5-9 won the WPIAL Class AA title this spring and 6-4 won in 2007, Evans could be a star in the making.
He’s already setting his sights on a medal at nationals — the top eight finishers earn medals.
“When I go, it’s going to be challenging, but if I can hit my (personal record), I think I can do pretty well,” Evans said.