Four UA Signees To Compete at USA Junior Championships
6/15/2012 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
June 15, 2012
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
USA Junior National Championships Home
Four incoming University of Alabama track and field student-athletes will compete on the national stage this weekend at the USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Bloomington, Ind.
The Junior Championships will feature 800 of the country's top high school and young collegiate athletes including Alabama signees Imani Brown in the men's triple jump, Kyle Felpel in the men's shot put, Justin Fondren in the men's high jump and Sydney Conley in the women's long jump.
Athletes between 16 and 19 years old at the end of the year are eligible to compete for the meet which also serves as the selection for the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships, scheduled for July 10-15 in Barcelona, Spain.
Competition for the future Crimson Tide student-athletes begins on Saturday afternoon with Brown, Felpel and Conley competing. Fondren will compete on Sunday afternoon.
Brown enters the competition ranked 10th in the nation in the high school ranks this season with a jump of 49-11.5. The Reading, Pa., native who recently took runner-up honors at the State Championships owns a personal best of 50-6.75 in the event. Felpel, a fellow Pennsylvanian, travels to the meet with the 13th best high school shot put mark in the country at 63-3 and recently won the event at the PIAA State Championships while finishing second in the javelin and third in the discus.
Fondren currently holds the fourth best high jump mark among high school boys in the country this season with his clearance of 7-0.25. In May, the Oxford, Miss., product won his third straight state title in the event. He owns a personal best of 7-2.25 and was a bronze medalist at last summer's World Youth Games after winning top honors at the USA World Youth Trials.
Conley recently wrapped up her high school career by winning the Arkansas 7A State Championship in the long jump while also winning the 100 meters and finishing second in the triple jump and third in the high jump. Her season-best mark of 20-3 ranks third in the high school ranks while her wind-aided jump of 21-2 is the best in the nation.
