Motor City Dominates the Field to Win AAU Junior Olympics 4x800m

AAU Junior Olympic Games
Travis Miller


After advancing to the 4x400m final out of the prelims by running a 3:15.62 yesterday, Motor City hit the track again this morning to chase the boys 17-18 4x800m national record(7:39.04). 


The first leg was very physical with a lot of athletes battling for position. Five teams emerged from the chaos to open up a gap on the rest of the field. Once the stick got to the second leg, it was all over for the rest of the teams in the race and turned into a race against the clock for the Michigan squad.

It's extremely difficult to maintain focus and push to the limits in a distance race like the 4x800m with no competition, but that didn't stop Motor City from emptying the tank. Official FAT split for De'Karyea Freeman on the second leg was a 1:52.94, which gave them a lead of nearly two seconds on the closest chasing team.


After a 1:56 split on the 3rd leg, 800m stud Cameron Cooper took off. He clocked an official FAT split of 1:50.14, which is just shy of his 1:49.71 PR. Even more impressive when you consider the amount of racing already in his legs this week (1500m, 800m prelim&final, 4x400m prelim). Cooper crossed the line in 7:39.35, which is just .31s off of the 17-18 national record.

Event 271  Men 4x800 Meter Relay 17-18 years old
===================================================================
    National: N 7:39.04  8/2/2013    St Louis Express TC, St. Louis
                         M Davis, C Jones, N Stewart, J Williams Jr
    Team                                                 Finals  H#
===================================================================
Finals                                                             
  1 Motor City Track Club  'A'                          7:39.35   2
     1) Brandon Davis 99                2) Cameron Cooper 99       
     3) De'Karyea Freeman 98            4) Derrick Reid 97         
     5) Dewan Hawthorne 99              6) Noah Burton 97          
  2 Willingboro Track Club  'A'                         7:57.37   2
     1) Aaron Cooper 98                 2) Augustus Gyamti 97      
     3) Daveigh Brooks 97               4) Eddy Ongwenyi 98        
     5) Jahaad Beckford 99              6) Brian Merriman 99       
     7) Robert Hawkins 98               8) Sam Keleeki 99

While they were just shy of their record breaking goal, it was an impressive solo performance, and they will be back tomorrow in the 4x400m final.


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