Samo’s future Olympians

While the 2016 Olympics raged in Rio, select Samo athletes competed across the United States in the Junior Olympics (JO’s). The JO’s are a highly competitive arena for athletes of all sports to showcase their abilities and strengths in their respective fields.Athlete Reece Pacaow (’18) competed in track and field at the JO’s held at the Sacramento State University track. During the week of July 25, Pacaow ran the 400 meter dash in 105 degree heat. Pacaow shared that he was so overwhelmed by the whole experience that when he got to the starting line he froze and felt like he forgot how to run. It took him a second to regain his composure, but once he did he was ready to go.“I was really nervous at the time,” Pacaow said. “All I could think was, ‘goodness gracious I hope I don’t lose.’” While Pacaow competed at Sacramento State, almost 2,000 miles away on a track in Humble, Texas, Aidan Blain (’20) competed in his own JO’s. Blain competed in events such as the 400 meter hurdle run as well as the 100, 200 and 400 meter dash. During the week of August 1-5 at the Humble High School track, Blain was shocked to find out that he would be running in the 15-16 age group instead of the 13-14. This made the experience much harder than he anticipated, but it also made him even more determined to do well.“It was a really tough competition, but also really fun,” Blain said. After competing in the JO’s against more seasoned competitors and succeeding, he proved to himself that his goals for the future were obtainable. While training for ten months with Chris Faulknor, a 1984 and 1988 Olympian, he pushed himself in preparation for each race, building his confidence and motivation to set higher goals.“It would be pretty cool to go to a top track college and be able to compete in the 2024 Olympics,” Blain said. In the field of gymnastics, Edie Graber (’18) competed at the Level Nine Western Championship Junior Olympics the weekend of April 29- May 1 in Missoula, Montana. At the competition, Graber competed in beam, floor, vault and bars. She originally made it on the team as a substitute in the event that someone got injured. Unfortunately, someone did, and was consequently not able to compete. Luckily for Graber, she was able to utilize her skill and take home second place in beam and tenth place overall.“It was a really cool experience,” Graber said, “I was very lucky to be there and I was really counting my blessings.”Graber has been doing gymnastics for 12 years, but this was the first year she made it onto the regional team. Prior to this, she was on a team with six other girls from her region who all qualified to compete as a team in the Western Championship competition. “It was really nice because I had competed against the girls before and now we were on the same team representing and competing for our region,” Graber said. In the future, keep your eyes out for Graber, Blain and Pacaow, as well as many other Samo athletes who are excelling in their sports and pushing themselves harder every day.