Junior relays Saturday at MJC will put middle-schoolers through their paces

Kids from 23 local junior high and middle schools are stretching out their hamstrings and loading their carbs, getting psyched for the 68th annual Harold Pope Junior Relays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Modesto Junior College track, 435 College Ave.

Admission and parking are free for the event, which is sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Education Foundation of Stanislaus County.

Schools participating this year include Big Valley Christian; Blaker-Kinser, Mae Hensley and Cesar Chavez from Ceres; Creekside from Patterson; Denair; Turlock and Dutcher from Turlock; Glick from Empire; Hickman; Roosevelt and La Loma from Modesto; Mountain View; Oakdale; Our Lady of Fatima; Paradise; Prescott from the Stanislaus Union district; Ross from Hughson; Salida; Shiloh; Somerset from the Sylvan district; Waterford; and Yolo from the Newman-Crows Landing district.

The following track and field events are slated for the competition: Hurdles, discus, 400 meter relay, running long jump, 1600 meter run, running high jump, 400 meter dash, triple jump, 100 meter dash, shot put, 800 meter run, 200 meter dash and 1600 meter relay.

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Junior relays Saturday at MJC will put middle-schoolers through their paces."