Central Valley Roadrunner Powers wins Junior Olympic crown

Ayden Powers won a national championship and earned All-America status after his performance this month at the National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 10-year-old Powers, who competes for the Central Valley Roadrunners, took first in the 9/10-year-old boys triathlon, which consists of the high jump, shot put and 400-meter dash.

In winning the national title, he set a Pacific Association (essentially Northern California) record with 751 points. Powers also competed in individual competition in the high jump, shot and 400. He took seventh place in the individual high jump (4 feet, 31/4 inches). The top eight finishers in each event are All-Americans.

“I thought I could win in triathlon and high jump,” said Powers, who just entered fifth grade at Mary Lou Dieterich Elementary School in Modesto. “But I think just going to nationals was good enough. I was happy that I did good enough to get there.”

In his triathlon, Powers turned in marks of 4-11/4 in the high jump, 22-9 in the shot put and 1 minute, 6.08 seconds in the 400.

“We’ve had a bunch of kids, probably over 30-plus kids in 13 years, go to nationals, but we’ve only had one other national champion,” said Carl Bryant, founder and coach of the Central Valley Roadrunners. “We had only one other national champion, and that was in 2010. It took us seven years to win our first national title and then another five for another.”

Nicole Warwick, now a star basketball and track athlete at Modesto Christian High School, was the club’s first to win at nationals. She was tops in the 800 as an 11/12-year-old and teamed with twin sister Meagan, Kianna Clay (now at Pitman High) and Sarah Stevens (Oakdale High) to win the 4x800 crown.

“I tried to explain to Ayden how big this is, but it hasn’t sunk in,” Bryant said. “This is something big.”

Warwick remembers just how big it was for her.

“At the time, it was kind of just like another race for me,” she said. “Later on, when people were congratulating me and saying, ‘Whoa! You won Junior Olympics!’ is when it started to sink in. At the time, I didn’t realize what was happening.

“I think about it sometimes, just to remind myself that hard work can get you places. Even though I was just a little kid, I worked my butt off.”

Powers was one of seven Roadrunners to qualify for Jacksonville:

Mikayia Bryant was 24th in the 13/14 girls 3,000-meter race walk with a personal best of 21:22.55. Alexus Surnip was 24th in the 13/14 girls long jump with a 15-11. Naomi Chappell was 43rd in the 13/14 girls long jump with a 15-11/4. McKinley King was 39th in the 11/12 girls discus (47-9) and 47th in the shot with a personal-best 22-41/4. Dexter Williams was 43rd in the 13/14 boys 400 (56.78). Meikayla Surnip was 32nd in the 11/12 girls turbo javelin with a personal-best 66-5, 38th in the long jump (13-43/4) and 37th in the 80-meter hurdles with a personal-best 15.67.

This story was originally published August 12, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Central Valley Roadrunner Powers wins Junior Olympic crown."