LIVE RESULTS
Freshmen
Dakota Peachee (Garner, N.C./West Johnston) and
Josh Pelletier (Lewiston, Maine/Lewiston) of the High Point University men's track & field team are set to compete in the USA Track & Field Junior National Championship on Thursday and Friday in Des Moines, Iowa. Peachee will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Pelletier will compete in the javelin.
"We're really excited that both of these guys have the opportunity to compete at this high-level meet and we think each can place highly in their events," said HPU head coach Mike Esposito. "Dakota is one of the top seeds in the steeplechase and he has really come on in that event. Josh is seeded around fifth in the javelin and we're looking for him to have a strong performance like he did at the conference championship. It will be great for these two freshmen to get more experience in a major championship setting."
Peachee had never run the steeplechase before his fourth-place finish at the Big South Championship in a time of 9:25.38. After that, he had a huge breakthrough at the Georgia Tech Invitational, placing second in 8:59.62 to set the HPU record. He then bested that performance, running a time of 8:58.72 to place 23rd at the first round of the NCAA Championship on May 29 in Greensboro, N.C. Peachee finished second among freshmen in that race.
Peachee is seeded second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase behind only Trac Norris (8:56.38) of Utah Valley State.
In his first meet throwing the javelin for the Panthers, Pelletier broke the school record with a throw of 59.80 meters (196-2) to place sixth at the Wake Forest Open on March 19. A month later, Pelletier broke out with a throw of 65.97 meters (216-5) to place second at the Big South Championship. He was named Big South Outdoor Freshman of the Year.
Pelletier is ranked fifth going into the meet. Sam Crouser, the USA Jr. record holder in the javelin, is the top seed with his season-best 255-4.
The USATF Junior National Championship typically features the top collegiate freshmen as well as the top high school athletes from around the country. Athletes must be 19 or under in 2010.
Peachee will run the steeplechase at 2:45 p.m. (Eastern) on Thursday and Pelletier will throw the javelin starting at 2 p.m. (Eastern) on Friday.