DES MOINES, Iowa - Four boys from Valparaiso participated recently in the AAU Junior Olympic Games Track and Field competition at the world famous Drake Stadium
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Carl Frey, 9, a student at Immanuel Lutheran School, competed in two events. He placed 27th in the Boys Bantam division 1,500-meter run in 5:41.69 on Tuesday. The next day, Frey ran in the 800 and placed 49th in a time of 2:51.17.
Reece Crossin, 8, also participated in the 800-meter run in the boys Primary division. He placed 47th in a time of 3:08.86.
On Thursday, Andrew Jankowski, 14, competed in the Youth Boys 1,500 meter run. Jankowski, an eighth grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, placed 21st out of 55 in a personal-best time of 4:41.06.
On Saturday, Ben Savage, 13, of Morgan Twp. competed in the Sub-Youth Boys 3,000-meter run. He led early in the race, and ended up placing 12th out of 41 competitors. His time was 10:42.39.
All four boys are members of the Calumet Region Junior Striders team, coached by Sue Brown-Nickerson of Valparaiso. They advanced to the Junior Olympics by competing in two qualifying meets in June and July at Hammond Morton High School. Several other young athletes from Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties also made the trip to Des Moines to compete.