On the weekend of June 25 and 26,the local USATF club team, the Lake Tahoe Bobcats, competed at the USATF Region 16 National Junior Olympic qualifying meet at Sacramento State University. The meet was comprised of 1000+ athletes representing club teams from as far north as the California-Oregon border down to San Luis Obispo in central California on the south, including northern Nevada. Several athletes from Incline and Lake Tahoe’s north shore represented the Lake Tahoe Bobcats over the weekend, competing in scorching heat that hovered around 100 degrees for most of the weekend.

While Tahoe denizens are seldom if ever exposed to such heat, it didn’t hold them back from posting some very impressive results. The highlight of the weekend was 13-year-old Lake Tahoe School student Millie Jenkins, who won her age division in the high jump. Millie successfully cleared 4ft 11inches on her way to the victory. This result clinched a spot in the upcoming National Junior Olympics in late July, where she will compete against the best track and field athlete’s in the country over a 5-day meet. Millie also finished 7th in the 100m hurdles and 18th in the long jump. Teammate Jada Moore was not too far behind Millie in these same events, as Jada finished 6th in the high jump, 9th in the 100m hurdles, and 23rd in the long jump. Brenda Martinez-Ruiz notched impressive results, as well, taking 13th in the 200m hurdles, 32nd in the 400m, and 40th in the 200m.

For the boys, Riley Rau was outstanding in the 13-14 year old division for discus. Riley qualified for the finals before finishing 8thwith a throw on 90ft 1inch. Riley also finished 14th in shot put. Dylan Cleary clocked a time of 12.74 in the 100m for the 13-14 year old boys on his way to finishing 22nd and a time of 25.49 in the 200m to finish 19th. Logan Eckert was 17th in the 15-16 boys discus with a throw of 75ft 7inches. In the 3000m 13-14 year old boys race Nicholas Patrick finished 25th with a time of 11:23.93.

“I’m extremely proud of this team. We went against some of the best track athletes in the country in extremely tough conditions and my team rose to the challenge. I’m excited for Millie to now have the opportunity to compete on the National level in a few weeks at JO’s,”said coach Kris Nugent, who accompanied the team to Sacramento. “This team will now compete at the AAU West Coast National Championships in Reno on the weekend of July 1-3 and I’m confident they represent the Tahoe area well.”