Tag: Kayla

Where in the world is Carmin SanDiego?

Kayla headed off to Moshi, Tanzania (near the base of Kilimanjaro) on Friday night and arrived at 7:45pm Saturday (12:45pm eastern time). Tanzania is 7 hours ahead of us (1 hour ahead of Europe).

Some Text message hightlights:
Sat 7:49pm: “just landed in africa!”
Sat 8:08pm: “There are so many stars out”
Tue 8:41pm: “Today we went to the school and taught English (I’m teaching a 2nd grade class for the next two weeks ) then we did manual labor stuff. Just about to go to bed”

I’ll add further updates as comments below as they come in.

Photo in 1st days:

from one of the returning students in the 2 week program:

Taken Wednesday August 10th at 8:30 in morning (Must be at school):


Priors take home 3 medals at USATF Region 1 Junior Olympic Championships

The Prior family traveled to RPI in Troy, NY via Woobury and Ithaca to compete in the Region 1 USATF Junior Olympics (photos, results). There are 16 regions around the country with the top 5 in each event qualifying to advance to the national championships in Kansas at the end of the month. Jared picked up a silver in the long jump and the bronze in the 100m while Kayla took the bronze in the triple jump. This meet brought together competitors from NY, CT, MA, RI, NH, VT, and ME. Jared will be in camp and Kayla packing for Tanzania so we’ll need to pass on the nationals this year.

Jared jumped 17’3.5″ off his right foot in the LJ (a “wrong” foot PR) and ran 12.60 FAT in the 100m, improving on his 12.77 in the NE meet and the semis. Kayla tripled jumped 30’6″, which was not bad considering her training the past 3 week consisted of lying in bed watching ugly betty on netflix. Jared got in two jumps before the 100m while Kayla checked him in (a foul and a right foot 17′.5″) and passed his third followed by 3 jumps in the finals, with his 17’3.5″ coming on his last jump.

2011 New England Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships

The Prior family took home four medals (a gold and three bronze) from the 2011 New England Junior Olympic Track Championships held at Fitchburg State University on 6/18 (photos, results, meet info). This is only the 2nd time they have competed together in same meet.

Kayla started the day by jumping to 3rd in both the long and triple jumps to pick up two bronze medals and two berths to the region 1 meet. This was the final track meet that Kayla’s infected tonsils will be coming along for the ride.

In the afternoon, Jared advanced to the 100m finals, winning his trials heat in the 2nd fastest time overall (12.76 FAT) and then matched it in the final (12.77 FAT) for 3rd place. Kayla was on the infield before the race teaching him how to start from a crouch position.

After baking on the sunny infield for a couple of hours waiting for the 100m trials and finals and completing those two races, Jared headed to the Long Jump pit to face a field of 16 jumpers. He struggling with his steps a bit in warm ups, but lead off with a safe 5.19m (17’1/4″) jump with plenty of room behind the board. After two strong looking fouls, he finished off with a 5.02m (16’5 1/2″) jump. His opening jump outdistanced the field by over 7 inches to earn him the title of 2011 New England Junior Olympic Long Jump Champion (footnote: Maine and Connecticut have separate meets but he out distanced those winners as well) in the 1997-1998 Youth division. This mark would have also won the Massachusetts Middle School Championship last week (only Brown middle school, based on winning the all-city meet, represented Newton at that meet).

The top six places from this meet advance to the “Northeast” Region 1 championship , (entries) at RPI in Troy, New York on July 9th (Jared) and 10th (Kayla). Kayla and Jared advance in all their 4 events. Region 1 combines NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, ME, NH, and NY. The top 5 from each of the 16 regions advance to the National Championship at Wichata State University in Wichita, Kansas.

Jared’s long jump PR from his middle school season (17’5″, 5.31m) is close enough to the 5.33m guideline to qualify him for the Youth Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Myrtle Beach (info, entries) so Dad and Jared will do an overnight trip down there to compete on July 3rd. His PR would place 10th last year as would Kayla’s LJ PR (but she will be recuperating that week).

Kayla jumps to 5th in Eastern Mass Division 1 State Championships

It is always nice when the Boston Globe writes the sports.priorfamily.org entry:

The girls’ competition was much tighter, with a great showing in the field events proving the difference for Newton North, which finished with 93 1/2 points, 8 more than Andover.

The Tigers earned 24 points in the long jump on strong performances by Carla Forbes (first, 17 feet 5 3/4 inches), Kayla Wong (second, 16-9 1/2), and Kayla Prior (fifth, 16- 1/4). They added 18 points in the discus as Ellen Goldberg (114-1) and Tatiana Froehlich (112-3) went 1-2.

“Getting the big points in the long jump and discus gives us a big shot in the arm,’’ said coach Joe Tranchita. “Execution was the key and that really was the focus. We weren’t looking at points, we weren’t looking at matchups.’’

Kayla completed her 2011 track season with a 16′ 1/4″ long jump for 5th place and 4 points in the Division 1 championships on Saturday in Andover. Together the Newton North long jumpers placed 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th, to contribute 24 points to Newton’s 93.5 to 87.5 win over Andover and the other 32 scoring schools in the meet (photos, results, Boston Globe article, Boston Herald article, Newton Track Blog, Newton Tab article, Newton tab photos) .

As the Boston Globe notes above, the long jump was one of the 1st events completed and having the Newton jumpers exceed their already high expectations based on incoming seeds by 3 points set the meet’s momentum in Newton’s favor. The 31 other largest eastern Mass schools could only field 2 athletes to beat her. This was Kayla’s first trip to a state meet medal podium. Her 4 points ranked her as Newton’s 7th highest point scorer for the day and enabled Newton to enter the final 4x400m relay with a tie for the win locked up. She also ran the 100m for 17th in 13.48a.

From the Boston Globe today:

Photo from Andrea Keklak’s (800m record setter) dad. I work with her mom.

Kayla dashes to 100m personal best/state qualifier

Kayla ran a personal best 13.24 FAT (equivalent to 13.0 hand time) in the 100m dash at the South Shore Principal’s meet Saturday ( Newton tab article, results, photos, jump sequences ). She placed 5th place [see race sequence), improving from 17th seed in the 30 entrant field. She qualified for the division 1 state championships next week (Saturday, Andover HS, 9:30AM), where she should be 13th seed or better (performance lists link). She has also qualified for D1 state meet in the long jump. Kayla also scored in the triple jump in the meet with a 31’1″ jump for 5th place and a total of 4 points toward Newton 130.33 win over runner up Brockton (68).

Kayla’s now ranks #2 in 100m at Newton North behind Carla Forbes so she may play a role on 4x100m next week as well. The 100m mark improved her seasonal best by 0.5 second and personal best by 0.2.

Kayla jumps to 5th place in Bay State Conference Championships

Kayla earned her first individual event championship medal of her high school career with a 5th place in the long jump at the 12 school Bay State Conference Championship on Wednesday (Newton Tab article, results on cool running, results on athletics.net). Kayla jumped 15’10.25″ on a cold and rainy day that had most competitors jumping 2 feet behind their personal bests. She now ranks 21st out of 593 competitors in the state.

North takes state relays — Kayla brings home two gold medals

Newton North won a closely fought battle over Andover to win the 2011 Outdoor Division 1 State Relays Sunday in Franklin, MA. The shuttle hurdle team defending their 2011 indoor and 2010 outdoor titles by over 2 seconds over the field (65.51). In her 4th outing as a triple jumper, Kayla joined Carla Forbes and Amy Ren to win the Triple Jump relay by 7 feet. These teams contributed 20 of Newton’s 73 points and provided the margin of victory over Andover (60). Both the relays posted the top performance of all four divisional relay meets in the state (triple jump beat out Mansfield from Division 2 by .25in). Kayla now has five state relay gold medals on her shelf and has contributed 57 points to relay meet wins.

News Coverage:
Newton Tab: Newton North sweeps State Relays championships

Boston Globe Article: Newton Boys, Girls sweep the field

The Newton North girls started on the track and did their best in the final running event. The 4 x 400 relay team of sophomores Meghan Belleraje, Madison Nadeau, and Carla Forbes, and senior Margo Gillis set a meet record with a time of 3:59.61.

“It meant a lot finishing off the running events with a win,’’ said coach Joe Tranchita. “And to get a meet record really boosts the morale even more.’’

The Tigers also won the long jump, triple jump, discus, 4 x 100 hurdles, and 1,600 sprint medley, finishing with 73 points. Andover came in second with 60 points, and Weymouth finished third with 39.

“We had 37 points running and 36 in the field,’’ said Tranchita. “I always say this is the purest team meet and that type of balance really shows that.’’

Senior Amy Ren came back from an ankle injury to help boost the Tigers.

“I had been out for three meets and I just wanted to go out there and be a part of the team,’’ said Ren, a part of three winning teams — the long jump, triple jump, and the hurdles.

Ren, who will run at Dartmouth next year, said getting over the pain in her ankle was a mental thing. “The ambition to do well trumps the pain,’’ she said.

Boston Herald Article: Tigers terrify on track

Milesplit Results/Coverage

Highlight photos

Winning 4x100m shuttle hurdle relay team:

Winning 3xTJ relay team:

Hardware:

Margin of victory:

2nd step in Triple jump

Newton defeats Needham — Kayla PRs in 2 events

Kayla scored 8 points to help lead Newton to a 105-31 win over Needham as Newton completed for the 1st time on its new home track (results, photos, jump sequences). She took 2nd in both the Long Jump and 100m behind Carla Forbes and added 3rd places in the 100m hurdles and triple jump. State leading marks were set in 3 of her 4 events (Forbes in LJ and TJ, Wong in 100m hurdles).

Kayla set personal bests in the long jump (16’7″, 16’6″, 15’10”) and triple jump (32’7″) and state qualified in the Long Jump. She also set season PRs in 100m and 100m hurdles. She currently ranks 5th in the league and 7th in the state in the long jump (out of 349 competitors). In the triple jump, she ranks 31st of 229 in the state, after only 3 tries s in the new event for her.