JACKSONVILLE -- The 2015 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships featured many preliminary and finals events on the third day of competition at Hodges Stadium on the campus of University of North Florida. National records in the boys’ 15-16 200 meters and boys' 8 and under 800 meters highlighted a great day of track and field.

Eighth grader Tyrese Cooper (Miami, Florida) turned in an astonishing time of 20.98, good for top 10 this year among all high schoolers over 200m, and a new national record. Watch Cooper’s record on USATF.TV.

Elija Goodwin (Covington, Georgia) and Marcellus Boykin (Atlanta, Georgia) also advanced to the semifinals of the 15-16 boys’ 200m, holding the second and third fastest times heading into the finals after running 21.47 and 21.68, respectively.

Khafre Brown (Charlotte, North Carolina) ran a wind-aided 21.83 to advance out of his 200m heat, crossing in front of Amir Waller (Riverdale, Georgia), who also advanced to the finals with his 23.22 finish.

Another national record set Wednesday was in the boys’ 8-and-under 800 meters. Ethan Ervin (Lawrenceville, Georgia) won the fourth heat with his record time of 2:30.98. Watch Ethan’s record here.

Field event finals took place Wednesday, as well as 4x800m relay finals to cap off the day’s action.

The first championship handed out on the day was to Colin Tansimore (Union City, California) in the 13-14 boys’ triple jump with the highest jump at 12.80m/42-0. Charles McClure (Odessa, Texas) and Frank Mason (Spring, Texas) finished second and third with respective jumps of 12.02m/39-5.25 and 12.01m/39-5.

The 13-14 girls division pole vault came down to Kelly Kern (Clayton, California) as the only participant to clear the 3.40m/11-1.75 threshold. Erica Ellis (Rochester, New York) came in second clearing 3.25m/10-8 with Sevanna Hanson (Phoenix, Arizona) and MacKenzie Gignilliat (Marietta, Georgia) both clearing 3.10m/10-2, but Hanson took the tiebreaker with fewer misses.

Hammer throw finals began with Jared Briere (Woonsocket, Rhode Island) launching past the the rest of the 15-16 boys’ division with his best throw at 61.79m/202-9. Adrian Matos (Providence, Rhode Island) finished as the runner up with his toss of 55.62m/182-6.

Kathleen Young (Decatur, Illinois) had an impressive performance in the 15-16 girls’ shot put, capturing the crown with a throw of 14.55m/47-9 on her fourth attempt.

Leon Miles (Vicksburg, Mississippi) ran the fastest overall 400mH time finishing in 53.60 in the fifth heat of the 17-18 men’s division. Four athletes from the first, second, third and fifth heats qualified for the semifinals on Friday in the 17-18 men’s division.

Charles Brockman (Plano, Texas) had the fastest time in the 15-16 boys’ 400mH, finishing in 54.41. Five runners from the fifth heat qualified for the semifinals, the most out of any heat in the age division.

In the men’s 4x800m, Track Houston, anchored by Youth Olympic gold medalist and 2014 USATF Youth Athlete of the Year Myles Marshall (Kingwood, Texas), won the title with a time of 7:50.46. Track Houston and The Afterburners Track Club were the only two teams to run sub-8:00.

Click here for full results from the first two days of the 2015 USATF National Junior Olympic Championships.

The USATF National Junior Olympic Championships can be seen live on USATF.TV. Action concludes Sunday, August 2. Click here for more information regarding the rest of the weekend.

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Ryan Stevens

Communications Intern

Ryan.Stevens@usatf.org