Thursday, October 13, 2011

AZ Heat juniors face fierce competition at NJDC


From July 16th-23rd, the Arizona Heat junior team of five athletes, 1 coach, 2 administrators and lots of family members traveled to Saginaw, Michigan for the National Junior Disability Championships. The long trip from Phoenix to Saginaw was no match for the junior archers.

All four archery competitors received a personal best performance. Chainey Cathemer, AR2 shot 459 for 1st place in Novice Cadet male, Autumn Taylor, AR3 shot 240 for 1st place in Novice Cadet female, Michael Baumgartner, AR3 shot 479 for 2nd place in the Novice Cadet male and Kevin Messner, AR3 shot 430 for 1st place in Cadet. The archery team set the tone for the week!

Autumn Taylor competed in 4 swim events and received 3rd and 4th place in all events with some fierce competition in her classification and age division.

After cheering on her teammates for most of the week, Rachel competed in wheelchair field and set a National junior's record in both discus and javelin receiving 1st place in both events.

Autumn Taylor, Michael Baumgartner, Chainey Cathemer and Kevin Messner competed in track events for three days. Even after a stumble at the beginning of both the 60m and 100m, Autumn finished hard and received 1st place in her age and class. Kevin received 3rd place in the 100m, 3rd place in the 200m and 1st place in the 400m. Michael and Chainey competed in the T54 class in the 100m and 200m and competed against the top junior athletes in their age division. Michael had a personal best in both the 100m and 200m.

The athletes enjoyed social outings with the Arizona Heat team including dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, ice cream at Baskin' Robins and bowling next to the hotel. Everyone had a great time and can't wait to start up the 2012 season!

Arizona Disabled Sports has submitted a bid to host the National Junior Disability Championships in July 2012. The bid will be announced after the WASUSA delegate assembly from October 21-23. Committee members and volunteers will be in high demand if we win the bid!