Posted: July 3, 2007

Athletics: McCullough smashes record on day one of USA Youth Outdoor Championships

Lisle, Ill. - Chaminade College Prep sophomore Conor McCullough set a new national record in the intermediate boys' hammer throw Tuesday at the 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at Benedictine University. McCullough (Canoga Park, Calif.) threw 72.53 meters/237 feet 11 inches, breaking the previous record of 65.66m/215-5 set by Walter Henning in 2005. "I was going for my sophomore record," McCullough said. "I didn't quite get it but I had a good day. I was consistent." Bradley Bolton (Lake Forest, Calif.) was second in the event with a throw of 44.22m/145-1. McCullough will compete for Team USA in the hammer throw at the IAAF World Youth Championships July 11-15 in Ostrava, Czech Republic. "I just want to do as well as I can," McCullough said. In the young men's hammer throw, John Talbert (Newton, Kan.) was the champion with a throw of 61.03m/200-3, while Jim Theologes (Huntley, Ill.) threw 52.34m/171-9 to finish second. Jeronimo Smith (Chesapeake, Va.) won three out of five events en route to winning the youth boys' pentathlon with 2,710 points. Smith finished 6th in the pentathlon at the 2006 USA Youth Outdoors. Joseph Kruy (Sudbury, Mass.) was the runner-up with 2,431. On the girls' side, Alex Gochenour (Missouri Valley, Iowa) picked up 96 more points than her nearest competitor in the 100m hurdles, which powered her to the youth pentathlon championship. Gochenour finished with 3,337 points, while runner-up Cadijah Harris (Chandler, Ariz.) scored 3,230. After one day in the intermediate girls' heptathlon, Rebecca Neville (Merrillville, Ind.) leads with 2,777 points. She is followed closely by last year's champion Shakeia Pinnick (Aurora, Ill.) and the 2006 youth girls' pentathlon champion Nefertiti Smith (Chesapeake, Va.), with 2,750 and 2,749 points, respectively. McKinzie Schulz (Naperville, Ill.) took a break from the intermediate girls' heptathlon to win the 2,000m steeplechase with a time of 7 minutes 23.24 seconds. Brooke Bierhaus (Bloomington, Ind.) was the runner-up in 7:34.43. In the midget girls' 1,500m race walk, Keara Lenard (Rossville, Kan.) was the champion in 8:31.45, while Ashley Augustus (Napa, Calif.) was second in 8:55.55. Emilio Mancha (Elgin, Ill.) easily won the midget boys' 1,500m race walk with a time of 8:28.27. John Bourdeau (Mahwah, N.J.) finished in 9:59.05 for second. For more information and live results on the 2007 USA Youth Outdoor Track & Field Championships, visit USATF.org. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest