By Terry Mosher
Editor, Sports Paper
De’ Andre Sincere, a young lad from Kitsap County, is putting on a show along with Nolan Van Amen at the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Greensboro, N.C.
Van Amen won the shot put national championship in the 13-14-age group on Wednesday and will try to make it two championships when he throws the discus on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Sincere, who will be a freshman at Central Kitsap Junior High this fall, but will be able to compete in football and track and field at CK High School, has emerged as one of top runners in the country for the 13-14-age group.
Sincere reached the finals of the 200 Thursday by running the fifth fastest time (22.90), and earlier in the day he smoked a 11.29 in the 100, which was the second fastest time, to reach the semifinals in that event.
“I think Sincere’s best race is the 200, but he surprised the living daylights out of me in the 100,” said Tim Lavin, his coach with the Bremerton Jaguars. “He won his heat pretty easily.”
Friday, Sincere will be in the 100 semifinals, the long jump finals and run in the 400 preliminaries. Lavin believes Sincere has a good shot at medalling in the long jump and advancing to the 100 finals and reach the semifinals in the 400.
Joining Sincere in Friday’s 400, but in a different age group (15-16), will be his Jaguar teammate Jaleel Elmore, who will be a sophomore this fall at Olympic High School. Elmore has been beset by sickness and injuries since the begging of track season at Fairview Junior High, but is a highly regarded sprinter who could be Sincere’s equal.
“Elmore really hasn’t been training that much,” says Lavin. “He’s been on and off with injuries (n appendicitis surgery and then a back injury that kept him from competing in the 200 at regionals). If he could have run the 200 at regionals, he would have been in the 200 here, too.”
Both Sincere and Elmore seem destined to be big stars in football and track and field at their respective high schools, barring of course the unforeseen.
“Elmore will be a huge, huge, star, mark my words,” says Lavin, who says he can’t wait to see him and Sincere run against each other in high school track and field. “Sincere is so fast. He’s short and fast. He’s also got accelerating speed like nobody I have seen since I have watched track. That’s why he is going to be an incredible football player. I have never seen anybody with his athleticism, and when he gets with Mark Ward (CK track and field coach), they are not going to let him fall down.”
“Him and Elmore are the best two runners in the state of Washington for their ages. No question about it. There is nobody who is close to those two guys in Washington, or in Oregon from what I have seen this summer with our qualifying meets.”
Olympic High School’s Zach Smith, a senior-to-be this fall, finished 28th out of 56 runners in Wednesday’s 200 prelims for the 17-18-age group and may have something to say about Elmore and Sincere being the best. Smith had the 6h best time of 10.66 in the 100 prelims Thursday.
“That’s his best time since his sophomore year,” said Ron Atkins, who is Smith’s coach with the Kitsap Fliers. “It’s his PR.”
The Kitsap Fliers’ Keyera Gaulden, a senior-to-be at Central Kitsap, ran a 12.71 in the 100 prelims for the 17-18-age group and finished 50th in time.
Troy Delgado of Port Orchard’s Raw Speed II reached the 100 semifinals with a 11.57 run that placed him 21st out of 24 runners who qualied for the semis.
There other Bremerton Jaguars competitors will compete Friday. Blake Schmidt will throw the javelin in the 11-12 –age group, Taylor Nichols will run the 400 in the 9-10-age group and Maya Nichols will run the 1500 in the 11-12-age group.