Hill, Brooks, Hall, and Crooke sisters win titles at National Junior Olympics in Florida

Indiana Results scoreboard 

On Sunday (1-Aug) the 2021 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships concluded in Jacksonville, Florida. The championships were held on the campus of North Florida University. USATF Indiana was represented by 97 athletes who competed in 220 individual events and three relays.  

5432 athletes from 49 states competed during the sevens days of competition that began on Monday (26-Jul).

Indiana athletes won eight (8) national titles while a total of 45 all-American performances were earned by athletes for placing in the top eight in an event. Each all-American was presented with a championship medal, an all-American patch, and a coveted Junior Olympic all-American hat.

Twelve (12) athletes from Indiana earned multiple all-American honors.

Erikka Hill (AthLead Indy) and Sabree Brooks (Speed U TC) joined three athletes from the Soca Speed Track Club in winning national championship titles in Jacksonville.  The three Soca Speed TC national title winners were Kenzie Crooke, Kya Crooke, and JonAnthony Hall.   

Hill, Hall, and Crooke each earn two national titles

Three of the young athletes won two national titles.  

Erikka Hill, a recent graduate of Shenandoah H.S. who will matriculate to the University of Miami (FL) later this month, won the 17-18 girls Shot Put and Javelin Throw.  In the shot put she threw 14.75m (48-4¾) to win by over 2 feet.  The mark was a career best by 5 inches and moved her from #11 to #9 all-time on the Indiana high school list. She won the Javelin Throw by over seven feet with a mark of 45.15m (148-1) and then earned a third all-American hat finishing eighth in the Discus Throw with a mark of 41.38m (135-9).

Soca Speed teammates JonAnthony Hall (13-14 boys) and Kenzie Crooke (11-12 girls) joined Hill as a double winner.  Hall, a two-time Indiana Youth Athlete of the Year, won the two horizontal jumps.  On Thursday (29-Jul) he leaped 6.23m (20-5¼) to win the long jump by two inches over Daniel Ambar of Ohio. Two days later he claimed the Triple Jump with a leap of 12.20m (40-0½). Both of his performances were career bests as he jumped over 20 feet in the Long Jump and 40 feet in the Triple Jump for the first time.  He also finished 12th in the 200m hurdles running 28.13.

Crooke started the meet off by winning the five-event Pentathlon on day 1.  In her first ever Pentathlon she scored a total of 2560 points to win by 133 points over Makena Cook of California.  The next day (Tuesday) she won the Long Jump with a leap of 4.80m (15-8¾); a career best by 4 inches. Then on Wednesday she finished second in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.35m (4-5½).  

More Indiana national champions!

Joining Hill, Hall and Crooke in winning national titles were Kya Crooke (Soca Speed TC), Kenzie's older sister, and Sabree Brooks (Speed U TC).  And both earned additional all-American honors on top of their gold medal performances.

The day after her younger sister won the Pentathlon, Crooke took to the track to participate in the 15-16 girls (seven-event) Heptathlon.  And like her sister she claimed the national title.  Competing against 36 other girls, her composite score of 4462 was 201 points more than runner-up Madeline Hogan of Wisconsin.  During the competition she cleared 1.70m (5-7) in the High Jump which was a career best.  Two days later she finished seventh in the High Jump with a clearance of 1.60m (5-3). She also finished 12th in the Triple Jump.  Her previous best placing at the national Junior Olympics was in 2018 when she finished fifth in the 11-12 girls Long Jump in Greensboro, N.C.

Brooks (Speed U TC) came to Jacksonville with a career best time of 24.77 in the 200m but when she left she had lowered that to 24.29; nearly a half-second improvement.  That time was run in the 13-14 girls finals where she captured the national title defeating Skyler Franklin of Florida by .14 seconds.  Brooks is a rising 8th grader at Lincoln Middle School in Indianapolis.  According to MileSplit, her time is the fastest by a middle schooler in 2021.   Brooks was one of just four Indiana athletes to earn three all-American honors as she also finished sixth in the 400m in a time of 58.76 (57.91 in the qualifying heats) and eighth in the 100m running 12.44 (12.32 in the qualifying heats).

Silver+

Four Indiana athletes earned silver medals for their runner-up finishes and all four added an additional all-American performance to their resumes. 

Ramiah Elliott (Indiana Storm TC), a rising senior at North Central H.S., finished second in the 17-18 girls 400m running 54.47.  In the 200m she stopped the clock at 24.27 (#1 '21 Indiana H.S.) to finish fifth. 

Parker Mimbela (Center Grove TC), a rising junior at Center Grove High School, finished second in the 15-16 boys 3000m (9:14.00) and then finished fourth in the 1500m running 4:12.67.

In the throws Luke Himes (unattached), a rising sophomore at Heritage Christian High School, was second in the boys 15-16 boys Shot Put (17.59m / 57-5) and fourth in the Discus Throw (44.01m / 144-4)

The youngest Indiana silver medalist was Jordan Redmon (Soca Speed TC) who earned his 2nd place medal in the    9-10 boys Long Jump with a leap of 4.42m (14-6).  He then finished fourth in the 200m running 27.44.

The Silver lining is pretty awesome

Taylor Tragesser and DeShuane Alexander each earned silver medals as they finished second in their events. 

Tragesser earned her second place medal in the girls 11-12 3000m running 11:15.94.  Her younger sister Chloe Tragesser stood next to her on the podium as she finished third in 11:25.20.  They both also competed in the 1500m, where Taylor finished 17th and Chloe finished 24th, running 5:21.20and 5:25.96, respectively.  All four of the sisters' performances were career bests.

Alexander (Soca Speed TC) won his silver medal in the 9-10 boys Triathlon compiling 581 points.  He also placed 14th in the 200m (28.54) and 30th in the 100m (13.98).  His Triathlon and 200m marks were both career bests.

All-American x 2

Three other locals earned two trips to the awards podium to be recognized as all-Americans.  All three competed in the 11-12 division.

Jada Harper (unattached) finished fourth in the 800m (2:27.90) and then fifth in the 400m (1:00.60).

Brycen Kelly (Indiana BLAST TC) finished fourth in the Pentathlon with 2158 points and backed that up with a seventh place finish in the 80m Hurdles running 13.59.  He also finished 11th in the High Jump.

Samuel Irish (Soca Speed TC) finished seventh in the Pentathlon (1967 points) and eighth in the 80m Hurdles (13.83).  He was very close to a third all-American finish in the High Jump finishing just ahead of Kelly in 10th place with a clearance of 1.40m (4-7).  The eighth place finisher, Colin Ferguson, from South Carolina, also cleared 1.40m but had fewer misses than Irish during the competition. He was also 34th in the Long Jump.

Complete all-American Indiana Scoreboard

1st Place

Sabree Brooks (Speed U TC) 13-14 girls 200m
Kenzie Crooke (Soca Speed TC) 11-12 girls Long Jump
Kenzie Crooke (Soca Speed TC)  11-12 girls Pentathlon
JonAnthony Hall (Soca Speed TC) 13-14 boys Long Jump
JonAnthony Hall (Soca Speed TC) 13-14 boys Triple Jump
Erikka Hill (AthLead Indy) 17-18 girls Shot Put
Erikka Hill (AthLead Indy) 17-18 girls Javelin
Kya Crooke (Soca Speed TC) 15-16 girls Heptathlon

2nd place

Ramiah Elliott (Indiana Storm TC) 17-18 girls 400m
Taylor Tragesser (unattached) 11-12 girls 3000m
Parker Mimbela (Center Grove TC)  15-16 boys 3000m
Kenzie Crooke (Soca Speed TC) 11-12 girls High Jump
Jordan Redmon (Soca Speed TC) 9-10 boys Long Jump
Luke Himes (unattached) 15-16 boys Shot Put
DeShuane Alexander (Soca Speed TC) 9-10 boys Triathlon

Third Place

Nayyir Newash-Campbell (Indiana Storm TC) 15-16 boys 400m
Chloe Tragesser (unattached) 11-12 girls 3000m
Caleb Sickbert (unattached) 9-10 boys Shot Put
Indiana Storm TC 17-18 girls 4x100m Relay

4th Place

Jordan Redmon (Soca Speed TC)  9-10 boys 200m
Jada Harper (unattached)  11-12 girls 800m
Parker Mimbela (Center Grove TC)  15-16 boys 1500m
Rachel Mehringer (unattached)  15-16 girls 100m Hurdles
Luke Himes (unattached)  15-16 boys Discus
Brycen Kelly (Indiana BLAST TC)  11-12 boys Pentathlon

5th Place

Ramiah Elliott (Indiana Storm TC) 17-18 girls 200m
Jada Harper (unattached) 11-12 girls 400m
James Hmurovich (unattached) 13-14 boys High Jump
Soca Speed TC 11-12 girls 4x100m Relay

Sixth Place

Milah Kramer (Evansville Speedsters TC)  7-8 girls 400m
Sabree Brooks (Speed U TC)  13-14 girls 400m
Josh Moore (Indiana Storm TC) 7-8 boys 800m
Haiden Diemer-Mckinney (Indiana Storm TC)  17-18 boys 800m
Griffin Hennessy (Center Grove TC) 17-18 boys 2000m Steeplechase
Chris Farnsworth (Soca Speed TC) 9-10 boys High Jump
Andrew McLean (unattached) 15-16 boys Javelin

7th Place

Brycen Kelly (Indiana BLAST TC)  11-12 boys 80m Hurdles
Robert Campbell IV (TruElite Athletes) 13-14 boys High Jump
Kya Crooke (Soca Speed TC)  15-16 girls High Jump
Luke Wingler (Center Grove TC)  9-10 boys Shot Put
Samuel Irish (Soca Speed TC)  11-12 boys Pentathlon

8th Place

Sabree Brooks (Speed U TC) 13-14 girls 100m
Samuel Irish (Soca Speed TC)  11-12 boys 80m Hurdles
Erikka Hill (AthLead Indy) 17-18 girls Discus

Click here to see the complete Indiana Scoreboard (all 223 performances)

Next year's national championships are scheduled to take place July 25-31 in Sacramento, CA.