Fink wins national championship

Once again Mach I Track Club has a national champion as Josh Fink of Aledo won the 3000-meter race walk in the Boys 13-14 division at the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympics in Des Moines last week.

Fink clocked a personal-record time of 15 minutes, 31.19 seconds. He was almost 13 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, another Texan, Ruel Newberry of Denton.

“I knew I had lapped third place and second place was on my tail until the last 300 meters or so, and he just fell back,” Fink said. “I looked at the Jumbotron and didn’t see him and I felt really good at that point.”

Fink explained the difference between running and racewalking. He also ran in a couple other events, posting personal-records in those as well, finishing 20th in the 3000 run in 10:32.21 and 46th in the 1500 in 5:06.59.

“When you land your foot your knee has to be straight, and you always have to have a foot on the ground,” he said. “Once you get the hang of it you just go. I’ve been doing both for about four years (since he was 9) and I’m very comfortable with both.

“With racewalking I like that you have to have a certain form. It makes it more tricky, but also fun.”

Fink added that having his older brother Josh, who runs for Aledo High School, along with his younger sister Jenna also competing during the week made it even more exciting. He said they visited the state capital and the city’s famous Grays Lake, which has about two miles of lake shore.

“It was a great running spot,” he said.

In summing up the week, Fink said, “A national championship, three PRs, pretty good.”

Jack Fink also garnered All-American status with a fourth-place finish in the Boys 17-18 division of the 3000 with a personal-best time of 9:00.18. He also placed 20th in the 1500 with a clocking of 4:13.49.

Jenna had a pair of PRs in taking 14th among 8-Under Girls in the 1500 at 6:27.18 and 45th in the 800 in 3:19.27.

Josh Fink’s accomplishment came a year after his teammate, Gannon Dolan, won a national championship in the 3000-meter run in the same division with a national-record time of 8:59. Dolan moved up to the 15-16 division this year and finished second in that event in the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics in Eugene, Oregon a few days earlier with a personal-best time of 8:49.76.

Dolan also placed sixth in the 1500, posting a time of 4:09.26 in the finals. In the preliminaries he set a Mach I club record with a 4:07.91.

The other Mach I runners who placed in the top 10 in Eugene are Ty Williams among Boys 13-14 and Layton Ybarra in the Boys 17-18 category. 

Williams’s personal-record time of 2:03.96 placed him eighth in the 800 and bested his previous personal best set in the prelims of 2:05.45. Healso competed in the 1500, finishing 16th in the prelims with a personal-best time of 4:24.51.

Ybarra was eighth in the 300, recording a PR of 8:54.20. He was 13th in the 1500 prelims with another PR of 4:07.86.

Gannon’s younger brother, Malachi Dolan, had a PR of 5:57.52 to take 22nd in the Boys 8-Under 1500. He was 36th in the 800 prelims, clocking a 3:05.14.

Sisters Hadleigh and McKinley Walton both competed in the Girls 13-14 division 3000 and both had personal records. Hadleigh was 52nd in 11:56.88 and McKinley was 57th in 12:16.47.

Also competing in Des Moines, Emmy Strathmeyer competed in the Girls 15-16 division and placed 20th in the 3000 in 11:54.65, 49th in the 1500 in 5:33.16 and 64th in the 800 in 2:44.69. Nico Walden was 30th in the 1500 with a time of 4:26.53 (PR) and 38th in the 3000 in 10:09.09.