FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (May 26, 2011) - The Junior Olympic-caliber athletes of the Fort Meade Highsteppers track and field club had the rare opportunity to compete on their own track.
Less than a month before the Amateur Athletic Union district qualifier, 16 track and field clubs from throughout the area entered more than 260 young athletes in the Fort Meade Highsteppers Armed Forces Day Track and Field Classic on Saturday at Meade High School.
In recognition of Armed Forces Day, the meet also featured a military tie-in. The program opened with the posting of the colors by the U.S. Navy Ceremony Guard. The National Anthem was performed by a member of the U.S. Navy Band.
The first event of the day was a sprint relay between military branches. Teams from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines participated in a 4x100-meter relay. The idea came from Highsteppers' coach Olivia Hunter's experience with the Washington, D.C., Special Olympics, which runs a joint-service relay with two active-duty service members and two Special Olympics athletes.
"We wanted to put a military touch to the track meet," Hunter said. "If we can do it for the Special Olympics and it's a lot of fun, then this track meet would be a great opportunity to run it."
The Navy team's anchor, Petty Officer 1st Class Ricky Garcia of Naval Information Operations Command Maryland, caught up with the Marines to snag bragging rights for the Navy.
"It's always a good thing for all the services to get together and compete," Garcia said.
After service members cleared the track, the Highsteppers took their places. The young athletes, in age groups ranging from 8 years old and younger to 18 years old, competed in numerous track and field events, including the 1,500-meter race walk -- an event that the Highsteppers have come to dominate in the Junior Olympics.
Sam Graves, 16, a three-time national champion in the 3,000-meter race walk, finished the 1,500-meter race walk with a meet best of 7:56. Graves has not been able to compete in his preferred 3,000 as the event has not yet been offered at the meets this year.
Like many of the other 64 athletes on the Highsteppers team, Sam uses the meets before the AAU district qualifier to train and prepare for the challenging meets ahead.
"We're working on all of the mechanics, some of the basic rules -- just fundamental stuff," Hunter said. "We're just getting [team members'] spirits up and getting their confidence up."
In addition to the instruction that coaches give during the track meets, the team practices three nights a week at Meade High School.
With two meets remaining before the district qualifier on June 10 and 11, the runners are now set in the events they will compete in and are training for specifics, said team member Amber Adams, who was last year's runner-up in the Junior Olympics 3,000-meter race walk.
"Work on form, and endurance is the big thing right now," she said.
Hunter said there are many first-time runners competing this season and coaches are focused on their development. For the coaches, improvement is gauged on running times as opposed to where they place in a certain heat.
Some of the veteran runners have seen the newer athletes' improvement.
"We're getting better and improving every track meet," Graves said. "Nobody is staying the same."
In past seasons, the Highsteppers have sent multiple runners to the AAU Junior Olympics. Last year, the team sent 12 young athletes to the Junior Olympics at Norfolk, Va., to compete against more than 11,000 of the best young runners in the country. Six of the 12 athletes returned home with a top-eight finish -- five of which were in the race walk.
"We average anywhere between 12 and 14 kids to the Junior Olympics," Hunter said. "We have some talented kids this year."
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