Erin Donahue Qualifies for Beijing

It’s extroadinarily exciting to see that someone from your hometown has qualified for the Olympics. On Monday, it was announced that Erin Donahue from Haddonfield, NJ finished second in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials to earn a trip to Beijing.

Erin is living proof that hard work can pay off in the end, and that someone from rural south Jersey can actually make their way to the Olympics.

(From the Philadelphia Inquirer) “I wasn’t one of those runners who sticks out, who you say, ’Oh, she’s going to be an Olympian,’ “Donohue said. “When I graduated (in 2005), I didn’t get a whole lot of attention from shoe companies or agents. I had to work for it. I’ve improved a little each year and it’s got me to where I am now.”

I have known about Erin for about eight or so years now. Erin is from Haddonfield, NJ, the town near where I grew up. I actually played against her in basketball a few times, and was friendly with many of her teammates, who were a part of my AAU basketball program, the Penn Jersey Panthers.

Erin was a GREAT basketball player. But she was always a better runner, a true stand-out athlete. In fact, I frequently saw her run by my house and through the neighboring park on her daily runs. In the end, running is what she pursued. That said, if she wanted to, she could have easily played for a small Division I basketball program.

But I’m sure she’s glad she didn’t do that. Erin went on from high school to run at North Carolina, and now she finds herself headed to Beijing, to run on the world’s greatest stage.

“It feels so good to go out there and execute your plan,” Donohue said. “It’s not like the NCAA or the NFL, where there’s always another season. In track, your focus for four years is the Olympic trials and the Olympics.”

And now she’s got her chance. It’s truly exciting to see this, and you can bet, everyone from south Jersey will be watching the women’s 1,500.

High School Athlete Advances to Finals for Olympic Long Jump

Why this is not all over the news, I’ll never understand. 15-year-old Shanay Briscoe of Duncanville, TX jumped 5 feet, 10 1/2 inches in the preliminary round of the women’s long jump in the Olympic Trials Monday night to advance to the finals on Friday evening.

It will be interesting to see how she performs on Friday, and it would be very exciting to see her go to Beijing. Briscoe is one of only three high school female athletes to be invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Briscoe had the nation’s best high-school high jump mark this year, when she leaped 6 feet, 1.25 inches at the Great Southwest Track Classic in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A total of 28 competitors will be vying for one of the six spots on the Olympic team. It has been said that Briscoe will need to at least break her personal best record to have any chance at qualifying to become one of the six female high jump representatives on Team USA’s roster in Beijing.

I’m hoping she does it; would be awesome to see her take the trip. But, as the Olympics motto goes, the honor is not in winning, but in competing. It’s just exciting to see her out there with a chance at only 15 years of age.