At the AAU National Championships and Junior Olympics, 8-year-old Josalyn Glover of Kingsland, Georgia, nearly broke the national age group record in the 400 meters as she won the title during the meet at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Glover easily beat her nearest competitor by more than four seconds as she finished in a time of 1:05.22, just 0.18 seconds off the meet record for the age group set by Kharisma Watkins of Miami in 2018, according to the scoring sheet provided by the meet organizers.
According to the USATF website, the National Junior Olympics 400 meters record for 8-and-under girls was set by Jada Edwards who ran 1:06.53 in Jacksonville in 2015.
It was a race of redemption for Glover, who had qualified for the finals as a 7-year-old last year. She was the youngest in the field. But she tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the race. She was not allowed to compete.
But this year, she did and won in impressive fashion. It wasn’t Glover’s only memorable finish of the meet. She also placed fourth in the 800-meter finals and ninth in the javelin.
Glover’s mother, Shondrell, says her daughter has been running competitively for about two years.
Among other local runners, Jacksonville’s Talayah Barnes took the title in the 400 meters for 9-year-olds, running a personal record of 1:01.97. Barnes also finished fourth in the 100-meter dash finals for 9-year-olds and third in the 200 meters. Jacksonville’s Tamai King finished third in the 400 meters for 9-year-olds. King also finished third in both the 800 meters and 1,500 meters in her age group. Melissa Cunningham, 11, won the high jump and finished fifth in the 80-meter hurdles.
Tahlya King, 12, took fourth in the 1,500 meters, four spots ahead of Eva Delaney. King also finished second in the 3,000 meters with Delaney finishing sixth.
Orange Park’s Dallas Wilson finished second in the boys 11-year-old javelin thrown turbo (400g). Orange Park’s Mikayla Shavers, 14, won the girls’ triple jump. Ponte Vedra’s Nathan Lebowitz took fourth in men’s discus for 17-18-year-olds.
Atlantic Beach 12-year-old Kristyona Harris was second in the girls’ high jump and third in the shot put in her age group.
Atlantic Beach’s Wynter Green, 13, took second in the 3,000-meter race walk. Kyrie Miller, also of Atlantic Beach, finished second in the javelin thrown turbo for 9-year-old boys, while 10-year-old Zaydin Chavies, of Atlantic Beach, finished in a third-place tie in the high jump.