This year's AAU Regionals proved to be another competitive year for the northern Midwest region. The event, which was held in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota took place over June 29th through July 2nd, and housed some of the best athletes across the region from ages 8 and under to 18 years old. Continue below for some of the top performances by Iowa club athletes at this year's meet.
In the girls Age 13 100-meter Hurdles, Ames Area Track Club held a great showing, taking first and third place with Mackenzie Carney's 15.49 and Alison Frandsen's 17.04. In the Age 14 category of the event, central Iowa took the win again by Des Moines Area Youth Track Club's Julia Shonka in 15.46.
Iowa athletes held strong in the girls 1500-meter runs, representing in almost every age group.
Ashlyn Keeney of the Iowa Speed Track & Field Club stunned in the 1500 for Age 14 girls when she nearly broke the 5:00 mark, finishing in 5:02.81. Another notable athlete in the event is Laila Fisher of MVP Track & Field Club who ran 6:01 to take 2nd in the Age 10 division.
The state of Iowa also took the win in the girls 1500-meter Race Walk with first and second being taken by Iowan athletes. Ava Thornton of Johnston Running Club took the win in 10:12 while Abbey Turner of Iowa Speed Track & Field Club came in second in 10:25.
In the girls 200-meter dash, Julia Shonka of Des Moines Area Youth Track Club took another win for the Age 14 division, breaking the 30-second mark with an excellent time of 29.92. Shoka also won the Age 14 Pentathlon, in which she competed in five different events including the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump, and 800-meter run.
Ashlyn Keeney also brought home another win for Iowa in the girls 3000-meter run for the Age 14 division with a time of 10:50, which was the fastest overall time in the event among all age categories.
The 400-meter dash finals held another great showing from Iowa athletes with Hailee McCarl of MVP Track & Field Club winning the 8 & Under category in a great time of 1:15.85 and Mya Moore of Central Iowa Excaliburs taking the win in the Age 15-16 division in 1:07.26. Moore also won the girls Heptathlon, a huge feat requiring her to compete in the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200-meter dash, long jump, javelin, and 800-meter run.
McCarl also ran in the 800-meter run with a win in the 8 & Under division in a time of 2:54.90. She was the only athlete in that age division to break the 3:00 mark. Central Iowa Excaliburs' Arianna Jackson won the event for the Age 13 category in 2:24.59, a hair faster than fellow Iowa athlete Gabrielle Cortez who ran 2:25.43 for Iowa Speed to take the win in the Age 14 category. Cortez's younger teammate Kyra Kauder won the event for the Age 9 category in 3:15.23. Jackson also won the Shot Put for the Age 13 category with a throw of 30-02.25.
In the discus throw, Madelaine Fisher, also of Iowa Speed, won the Age 11 category with an exceptional throw of 81-00.00, winning by over 25 feet. Fisher also won the Shot Put with a throw of 28-01.50, which would also win the Age 12 category.
Fisher's Iowa Speed teammate Gabbie Schroeder also aided in racking up points in the field events by winning the Age 13 Javelin with a throw of 87-09.00, which would have also won in the Age 14 and Age 15-16 categories.
In the long jump, MVP Track Club's Hailee McCarl added another win to her day with a jump of 9-10.25 in the 8 & Under category, giving her three wins for the day in various events in her age category!
Overall Iowa had a great representation from Central Iowa Excaliburs, MVP Track Club, Iowa Speed Track & Field Club, Johnston Running Club, Ankeny Track Club, Ames Area Track Club, and Mississippi Valley Track Club. You can view the full results here...
Stay tuned for more from the boys events and keep an eye out as we approach the AAU National Junior Olympics which takes place July 26th through August 5th in Detroit, MI.