2023 AAU National Junior Olympics – Des Moines, IA – 29Jul-5Aug’23
- Toby Pallett
- Aug 5, 2023
- 5 min read
This is my 4th AAU JO in Des Moines, IA at the famous Drake University blue track (2009, 2014, 2018). Last year I wrote how Greensboro and the North Carolina State A&T track & field facility felt like a second home after previously attending 4 other big meets there. I guess that makes Des Moines a third home! We had 8 of our throwers take part in this year’s AAU National JO. While our numbers have gone down (in part do to my requiring regular participation to join our practices), we have a quality group of athletes that committed to honing their craft this summer and I’m looking forward to seeing what they are able to accomplish this week.
AAU Live Results:
Day 1-2: (multi-events)
The first two days of the AAU National Junior Olympics belonged to the multi-eventers. Teegan wasn’t fully recovered from shoulder surgery in time to take on the decathlon this year, but Zoe carried the standard forward and made a big jump up from 11th place last year to 3rd place this year in the pentathlon! She had the 2nd best throw in shot with her near PR toss of 34’ 0.75” and I’m looking forward to seeing what she’ll be able to do in open shot and javelin later this week. Recent addition, JJ Lukas, PR’d in shot and also medaled overall, placing 8th. Great start to this year’s JO!
Zoe Ghanbari – 34’ 0.75” – shot put (2nd) – 3rd place girls 12yr pentathlon
JJ Lukas – 27’ 2.75” – shot put (7th) – PR – 8th place girls 12yr pentathlon
Day 3: (Monday / start of open-events)
We had 4 athletes on the schedule for the first day of open events (Teegan, Torran, William and Aria). It was Simmons day at the track! Teegan repeated his silver medal finish in 15-16 javelin. He had a consistent series with 4 throws over 158ft, 3 throws over 161ft. He just never found that monster throw that we both know was there today. Torran had a solid series [127’ 2” 126’ 6” 121’ 11”] and will no doubt make noise in the 15-16 boys javelin next year. William had some bad luck when his plant foot slid on his first throw. Unfortunately, that ended up being his only measured throw.
Aria hit a new PR in shot with her first-round toss of 16’ 11.25”. It was the first time I can recall seeing her without a smile (maybe feeling the pressure of being in her first big national meet). Next year she’ll know what to expect and will likely be getting scolded by officials for doing cartwheels and round offs between throws! 😊
Teegan Simmons – 167’ 2" – javelin (2nd) – AAU 15-16yr Javelin Silver Medalist!!
Torran Simmons – 127’ 2” – javelin (17th place 15-16yr)
William Simmons – 97’ 11” – javelin (50th place 15-16yr)
Aria Simmons – 16’ 11.25” – shot put (15th place 8u) – PR
Day 4: (Tuesday)
We had 4 athletes on the schedule for the second day of open events (Teegan, Torran, Joe & Maggie) and as would be my luck, all four were scheduled for noon. Fortunately, they were a short distance apart and staggered such that I didn’t miss very many throws.
Today brought two more medals to the club count. Maggie clocked the best 4 throws on the day to defend her AAU National JO discus title. She opened at 99’ 6” and closed it out (with the clap) at 99’ 7”. Teegan battled through some early issues to claim a 7th place finish in shot put. Joe and Torran (being only 15) had the unenviable task of competing with the older guys. Joe cracked 40ft twice and given that his PR coming out of the high school season was just 32’ 3”, he has much to be proud of. Both will get another shot (pun intended) at the 15-16yr division next year.
Maggie Kandt – 99’ 7” – discus (1st) – AAU 12yr Discus National Champion!!
Teegan Simmons – 49’ 9.25” – 15-16yr shot put (7th place)
Joe Caine – 40’ 3.25” – 15-16yr shot put (35th)
Torran Simmons – 32’ 7.75” - 15-16yr shot put (56th)
Day 5: (Wednesday)
We had 5 athletes on the schedule for the third day of open events with Maggie and Zoe competing in javelin at 8:00am along with Teegan, Torran & Joe in discus. Maggie and Zoe then came back at 3:00 for shot put.
It was a wet, soggy affair with rain all day long, including one lightning delay. Not the greatest conditions for throwing but our throwers did really well adapting to the conditions, especially our 15-16 boys in discus. All 3 were just off just off their PRs in prelims with Teegan qualifying for finals. After a lightning delay, Teegan came back for finals and hit a massive throw of 172’ 7” in round 4. It was a 10.5 foot PR and catapulted up to second where he would stay.
While discus was going on, Maggie and Zoe were busy at turbo javelin where they finished 4th and 7th respectively. Both had solid performances but just couldn’t get over the hump. Maggie came close to taking the title on her last throw. It was over 100ft but she lost it to a small foot foul.
After a short break, we came back in the afternoon for shotput where the girls had to deal with wet rings and unfortunately ring #1, which was on a slant. The prelims were a bit of a struggle, but both punched their ticket to finals where they could at least throw on a level ring. I was hoping they would start to find their form from the last couple of weeks, but it wasn’t meant to be today. Maggie ended up finishing 3rd with Zoe in 8th. It says a lot about the quality of both that, on less than their best days, they still found themselves on the podium on this national stage.
Proud of how the kids kept their focus and competed today. They didn't let the rain (wet discs & a ring full of water) or a slanted, wet plywood circle (yes, AAU should be ashamed of ring #1's placement) get in the way of their competing to the best of their abilities.
Teegan Simmons – 172’ 7" – discus – PR – AAU 15-16yr Javelin Silver Medalist!!
Joe Caine – 123’ 8” – discus (26th place 15-16yr)
Torran Simmons – 110’ 1” – discus (39th place 15-16yr)
Maggie Kandt – 87’ 3” – javelin (4th place 12yr)
Zoe Ghanbari – 80’ 3.5” – javelin (7th place for 12yr)
Maggie Kandt – 36’ 9” – shot (3rd place 12yr)
Zoe Ghanbari – 33’ 7.5” – shot (8th place for 12yr)
Note: Teegan’s throw moved him up to the #4 high school thrower in the state of Michigan in 2023 per www.MichTrack.org behind Kellen Kimes, Dalton DeBeau and Brycen Anderson.
Day 6: (Thursday)
We didn’t have anyone throwing today and given some family priorities, I headed home early with a surprise stop at my mom’s house in Muskegon.
Day 5: (Friday)
Our last thrower in this year’s JO was Aria in the turbo javelin. She’s been making steady progress all year, slowly moving out her PRs each week. Aria didn’t let being on a national stage for the first-time impact that. She stayed on the “PR train” with her final round toss of 25’ 9.25” (her 2nd PR of this JO). Congrats Aria!
Aria Simmons – 25’ 9.25” – 300g turbo javelin (44th place 8u) – PR
That’s a rap on this year’s JO and the summer youth session. We had 8 athletes commit to the 2-month summer training session. Combined they set 15 PRs in 17 opportunities this summer and earned 10 medals at the AAU National Junior Olympics (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)
§ 12yr Discus National Champion (Maggie)
§ 15-16yr Javelin Silver Medalist (Teegan)
§ 15-16yr Discus Silver Medalist (Teegan)
§ 12yr Pentathlon Bronze Medalist (Zoe)
§ 12yr Shot Put Bronze Medalist (Maggie)
§ 12yr Javelin 4th (Maggie)
§ 12yr Javelin 7th & Shot Put 8th (Zoe)
§ 15-16yr Shot Put 7th (Teegan)
§ 12yr Pentathlon 8th (JJ)
Now it’s time for Coach Toby to start training again to get ready for the senior Olympics in a couple weeks! Hopefully I can uphold the standard set by our youth throwers.
