The spring season of the Piedmont Junior Running Club program for 4th and 5th graders concluded on May 24 with a track meet featuring four running events and a field event. Over 60 students from Beach, Havens, and Wildwood participated in the event at Witter Field.
This running program is sponsored by the Piedmont Recreation Dept. It provides an introduction to running, and every season concludes with a tri-school event. The events contested were a 75 yard sprint, 60 yard hurdles race, 800m run and a 4 x 100m relay, and the long jump.
There were 8 heats of the 75 yard sprint with the winners advancing to the finals run-off. The same format applied to the 60 yard hurdle race using three – 12 inch hurdles and one 6 inch hurdle in each lane. Henley Azad, a 5th grader at Havens, won both the sprint and hurdles events. Her time in the sprint was 10.9 seconds and in the hurdles it was 9.15 seconds.
For the relay race, teams of four runners from each school participated, with each student running a 100 meter leg. There were two heats and the winner of heat one was a team from Havens in a time of 66.6 seconds, which broke the previous program record for this event.
The heat two winner and 2nd place overall was a team from Beach, in a time of 68.8 seconds.
The concluding running event was an 800 meter run with two heats. The winner of heat one was Wildwood 5th grader Kenji Holt in a time of 2 minutes and 46 seconds.
The winner of heat two was Henley Azad in a time of 2 minutes and 57 seconds.
This meet was one of the last events to be held at Witter Field before it will be temporarily closed for a upgrade and makeover this summer.
Maxwell Howng, Will Brumfiel, Solomon Sandrock, and Andrew Lee 
Graham Grippando, Teak Herrgott, Max Centeno, Nicholas Phung 
5th graders Bailey Gregovich, Anna Benson, Charley Harnett, and Ella Nealon
The Piedmont Junior Running Club is a year-round running program. In July PRD will will hold a four-week summer program. (See PRD’s summer activity guide HERE for information.) It will be followed by a fall program that will begin once school is back in session.
For more information, contact Len Goldman: lgoldman@pacbell.net