Texas, AAU Jr. Olympics next for Legends
Published 12:01 am Saturday, July 30, 2016
- Marc Creecy, left, stands with members of the St. John Legends track team who have qualified for the AAU Junior Olympics starting today in Humble, Texas. Qualifiers are, back row, Anya Creecy and Kharma Creecy, front row, Chani Cammon, Ziya Borne, Aja Creecy, Ciera Cammon and assistant coach Britney Taylor. (Lori Lyons, L’OBSERVATEUR)
LAPLACE — They have run fast, jumped high and thrown far, setting themselves apart from the rest.
They also have washed cars, cooked and served pastalaya and shook cans on corners.
St. John Legends track coach Marc Creecy shows off the medals his team won in Orlando this month. The team is competing now in Texas.
Now six members of the St. John Legends track team are ready to go to the 2016 AAU Junior Olympic Games in Humble, Texas.
The competition, celebrating its 50th year, begins today and runs through Aug. 6.
Ziya Borne, 7; Tr’Nahja Smith, 12; Anya Creecy, 12; Kharma Creecy, 11; Aja Creecy, 9 and Sonaja Nelson, 8, all will be making the trip with coach Marc Creecy (the dad of Aja and Anya and the uncle of Kharma).
All have the potential to come home with even more medals for their bedroom and living room walls.
“The goal in Texas is, I hope we all perform our best,” Marc said. “It’s more than a modest goal to at least reach a personal best, but I want them all to exceed it. If they just do their best then I’ll be happy with that.”
All of the girls have spent their summer qualifying for the event. Some did so in June at the AAU qualifier in Covington. A few more had to travel this month to Orlando for another qualifying event at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex.
A couple of the young ladies returned home with medals in their events in Orlando.
Aja took third in the turbo javelin throw and was fifth in the shot put. Kharma was second in the shot put and fourth in the discus. Anya was seventh in the shot put, third in the turbo javelin and fifth in the discus. Chani Cammon, who is 6 but competed with the 7-year-olds, medaled in the 40 meter hurdles.
“It was hard,” Chani said.
Marc said this is an average sized group of qualifiers for the team, which has been prepping young track stars since about 2001. He took a total of 24 to Orlando; six will go to Nationals in Texas.
“Seed wise, they’re in the upper echelons,” he said. “They could, potentially, do very well.”
Not all of these young ladies truly understand the momentousness of the event. They’re just going to have fun (or because their parents are making them).
“I’m looking forward to competing and trying my best,” Aja said.
