LABEAUME THROWS AT NATIONALS

Anna LaBeaume works on her shot put technique in the summer of 2006. This year, she placed 10th among intermediate (15- and 16-year-old) girls.

Sequim soph takes 10th at Junior Olympics meet

By Michael Dashiell
Staff writer

Big arms don’t mean much when it comes to the shot put, Anna LaBeaume says.

“You throw with your legs,” says the 15-year-old Sequim High sophomore. “And it does take a lot of technique.”
She would know.

LaBeaume capped off her second straight appearance at the National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships with a 10th-place finish among intermediate girls, finishing with a 36-foot, 3-inch toss.

At the national meet, held in Walnut, Calif., July 24-19, the top four national shot put intermediate girls (15- and 16-year-olds) broke 40 feet, with Alyssa Hasslen of McMinnville, Ore., bringing home the gold with a 44-8.75 throw.

“I wanted to get at least 36 feet or maybe even past 37 feet, but I hadn’t been training that much,” LaBeaume says.

Last year, the Sequim freshman-to-be took sixth at nationals in the younger “youth” division for 13- and 14-year-olds. In the “intermediate” division, she jumped from a 6-pound shot to about 8.8 pounds, a jump in weight LaBeaume called a “big transition.”

On her way to nationals this year, LaBeaume started strong with a gold medal at the USATF Pacific Northwest Association Junior Olympics association's meet at Sealth High School in Seattle at the end of June, a 37-7.75 mark. (That same weekend — literally a few minutes apart — LaBeaume helped Sequim's U-19 Select girls soccer team win the Starfire Xtreme Cup championship in Tukwila.)

At the regional meet July 12-15, also at Sealth High School, LaBeaume finished third (34.61) behind Hasslen (46.72) and Courtney Tripp of Oregon (35.79).

At nationals, with the top throwers breaking 40 feet, LaBeaume said she might have placed higher had she been in training but — as happens with high school athletes — summer activities like weight training and a job got in the way.

And, truth be told, she’d rather be playing soccer, which kicked off Monday.

As a freshman this spring, LaBeaume placed ninth in the class 2A Washington state championships with a 36-6.25 mark. After the 2008 spring track and field season, she’ll have another shot at a Junior Olympics intermediate division medal as a 16-year-old.

LaBeaume’s throws
2007 National Junior Olympic Track & Field meets
Meet                 Date            Mark        Place
Association meet     June 30-July 1        37-8          1
Regionals          July 12-15          34.61    3
Nationals             July 24-29        36-3        10