Tall City Christian Track Club's Miah Nelson, 12, left, and West Texas Track Club's Michelle Falcon, 11, right, are headed to the USA Track and Field Junior Olympics
Miah Nelson is a maturing track-and-field star, a lifer who competed on the national stage before she broke double-digits in the birthday department.
Michelle Falcon took her exposure to the track and field a little more than a year ago. A friend on the soccer team brought her to the sport.
Both athletes are about to take their talents to the national stage. Nelson and Falcon have qualified to compete at the 44th USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif., from July 27-Aug. 1.
Nelson had other plans.
Nelson — who won the mile as a Bonham Junior High seventh-grader last year — has suddenly developed a set of springs most distance runners simply don’t have. Three years ago, Nelson’s 800-meter legs carried her to a 16th-place finish in her first national appearance.
Falcon, 11, qualified in the high jump.
But her ability to rise to the occasion came out of nowhere. At this time last year, Falcon and a soccer teammate decided to try out track.
Turns out that Falcon, a seventh-grader at Ector, has found her sport.
“We only started last summer,” said Rudy, her father. “I never expected her to get to this level.”
Falcon had run track during her days in elementary school.
Competing during the summer, though, was a completely different world. For the first time, Falcon gave high jump a try, and she came through at the Region 12 meet to tie for second place and a qualifying spot.
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