The Aurora Flyers took an estimated 75 athletes to AAU Nationals in Norfolk, Virginia (Aurora Flyers photo credit)
The facts are the facts and it is hard to argue against the Aurora Flyers being that one supreme team from Illinois- a super track club that one often sees from the states of California, Florida, or Texas. Head man Thomas Boatright and his assistant coaches don't believe in the rent-an-athlete mantra that others have tried to deploy to boost their status. The vast majority of Flyer athletes have some type of year round affiliation with Mr. Boatright. The results speak for themselves on all age group levels. The entire week on the campus of Norfolk State University in Norfolk, VA has been success after success for the famed Aurora Flyers track and field nation.
As good as things were for the Flyers, there was some controversy for the second straight year for them. The final event of the meet pitted the #1 seed Flyers girls 17-18 year old 4x400m relay that blasted through the prelims in a near meet record 3:40.69. The quartet of Samara Miller, Charlyncia Stennis, Morgan Harris, and Ashleigh Wilson was ready to roll for the final day except for one thing. They were seeded incorrectly. They were initially given lane 7 instead of the favored lane 4. As the meet announcer began to announce the lane assignments it was not matching up to the hip numbers. The meet officials halted the start of the race to re-seed the event. The Five Star TC out of Virginia was then moved from 1 to 4 in which they would later win in 3:44.01. Aurora stayed in lane 7. Ok no big deal right? Well except for the fact that the Five Stars used three different runners and another runner who apparently was not declared as an original team member. When a protest to the meet officials about the issue, it fell on deaf ears. The Flyers finished a dejected third in 3:44.59. The AAU nationals have repeatedly been marred by controversy in recent times and maybe that's why the overall better athletes have chosen to compete in the USATF series instead. It would behoove the AAU organization to start fact checking themselves before they end up running an all-comers meet in the future.
It was utterly ridiculous for meet officials to run all of the sprints into a heavy head wind the entire final day. The much slower final times would come to reflect the outcomes.
Dajour Miles led the Illinois contingent once again. The 14 year Flyers ace started her day with a third bronze medal grab in the 100m racing to a 12.37 (-1.9) time. She would later get revenge in the 400m burning the competition with a big ol' personal best 54.08. She would once again snatch another gold medal, this time in the 200m with a solid time of 24.70 (-1.9). One only wonders if she had favorable conditions and did not compete in the 400, how far under 24-seconds could she have ran. Cinnamon is clearly the girl to beat in 2016 when she enters the high school ranks. Her marks put her at the top of all marks state side. If she can stay hungry and focused all of the state all-time marks will be in serious jeopardy.
Emerging distance star Katelynne Hart will have to wait another school year to officially join the Glenbard West cross country and track teams. The 8th grader to be rebounded from a disappointing 9th place finish in the 1500m two days ago to win the girls 14 year old 3000m in 10:13.24. Hart just missed the record by former Indiana middle-school star Michelle DeLaVina's meet record 10:11.21. Hart's time converts to a sub-11:00 3200m. This spells good news for Glenbard West in 2016-17 when star Lindsay Graham graduates.