Group of eight Saranac athletes going to Nike Nationals
Jun. 11—SARANAC — The high school Nike Outdoor Track and Field Nationals makes its return after two years of absence due to COVID cancellations, and a group of eight Saranac athletes will be making the trek to Eugene, Oregon to compete.
The contingent of seven middle schoolers will compete in the middle school division this upcoming Thursday, while one freshman will compete in her division on Friday, June 17.
The competition will take place at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field, a well-known location to the track and field crowd.
"The history of track and field at the University of Oregon is unbelievable," Chiefs coach Matt Medeiros said. "They produce Olympians every four years, and they just have a storied history with their program."
With that in mind, Medeiros was excited for the athletes when he found out a decent-sized group of the team would get the chance to go on the trip.
Several of the group have known they were qualified for some time, due to a stipulation at the Nike Indoor Nationals meaning they would automatically qualify for the outdoor event, Medeiros said, but that meant hard prep-work for those who already knew they could go, as well as some surprises along the way.
"Most of these kids are distance runners, so I've had them since cross country, and I knew the talent that I had," Medeiros said. "We had a surprise seventh grader, Sarah Lavigne, who ran a 12.78-second 100-meter and qualified, and an eighth grade boy, Zander Daniels, who moved up to varsity this year and had an outstanding year. He qualified for the 100-meter and the long jump."
Freshman Desiree Jean-Pierre took it down to the wire, qualifying in the shot put at the Section VII Championships, making the mark by a quarter of an inch, Medeiros added.
"Two days prior to sectionals, I just happened to mention to her mother, 'Just so you know, she has a shot,'" Medeiros said. "I didn't tell Desiree because I didn't want her to have any pressure."
Joining Daniels, Landon Morris and Noah Thayer will both run the boys' middle school 1-mile while Thayer will also run the middle school 2-mile event.
On the girls' side, as well as Jean-Pierre and Lavigne, eighth-graders Sienna Boulds and Laura Denial will run the middle school 1- and 2-mile events while seventh-grader Hannah Hamel will also run the middle school 1-mile.
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The Nike Outdoor Nationals are not a school-sanctioned event, Medeiros said, so airfare to get to the event fell on the families of the athletes.
But the team also started a GoFundMe to help with lodging and transportation once the athletes make it to Oregon. It can be found online at tinyurl.com/2p8ufxhf.
Several athletes got final tune-ups in at the NYSPHSAA Track and Field Championships this weekend, and the Saranac group will begin to make their way across the country in the next few days.
Medeiros hopes that the trip can provide some lasting memories for his athletes.
"As a runner myself, I'm kind of jealous. This is a trip that, if I was in their shoes, the memories would last a lifetime," Medeiros said. "Plus, the fact that it's not just one or two athletes going, it's a group of them, they'll be able to share this and have that bond."
