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Lynas qualifies for national Junior Olympics

The 3,000-meter race at the national Junior Olympics competition will be held July 29 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the qualifiers for the race include De Luz 12-year-old Avery Lynas.

The regional qualifying race for San Diego, Los Angeles, and Imperial Counties took place June 24 on the Cerritos College track. Lynas finished fifth in the race for 11-year-old and 12-year-old girls, posting a time of 11:08.28.

"I was really excited and a little surprised that I qualified for it," Lynas said.

Lynas had an extra tooth in her mouth which was removed June 11. She was told that she could run as soon as she felt able, and she missed four days of practice due to the surgery recovery.

"It does not surprise me," said Sullivan Middle School cross-country coach Tamara Miller, who coached Lynas during the 2017 North County Middle School Cross-Country League season. "She has a lot of natural talent. She's a very determined and dedicated runner."

The top five finishers at the regional championship race qualified for the national Junior Olympics competition.

"It was really nerve-wracking because I was in sixth place for a lot of the race," Lynas said.

Lynas took over fifth place in the final 300 meters and had enough left to beat the sixth-place finisher by nearly 10 seconds.

"I was really afraid she'd catch up to me," Lynas said. "I didn't know how much I had left. I just felt kind of relieved. There was no more pressure, and I was really proud of myself."

The time also set a personal record for Lynas, whose previous best time in a 3,000-meter race was 11:15.

Lynas is a lifelong resident of De Luz. She had attended Frazier Elementary School in Fallbrook prior to third grade but when her mother obtained a teaching position at Bonsall Elementary School, Lynas transferred to that school.

Lynas' mother, Gabrielle, attended Golden Sierra High School in the Northern California town of Garden Valley. Gabrielle Lynas was on the Grizzlies' track and field team although she did not compete in distance races. "Running was a real passion for me when I was younger," she said.

Gabrielle Lynas ran the 200-meter dash, the 400-meter race, and the 4x400 relay while in high school. Avery Lynas' father, T.J., played baseball for Fallbrook High School before graduating in 1982.

"We didn't really push sports on our kids until they got older," said T.J. Lynas. "We wanted them to have fun."

Although the parents did not induce their children to participate in sports, Gabrielle Lynas continued to run in a non-racing environment. Avery Lynas began running when she was in fourth grade and started running with her mother.

"I see a work ethic in her," Gabrielle Lynas said. "She inspires me."

The three Lynas children also include 16-year-old Holden Lynas, who completed his sophomore year at Fallbrook High School in June and is in the Warriors' cross-country and track and field programs. The middle child, 14-year-old Quinn Lynas, was on Fallbrook High School's freshman basketball team and varsity golf team during the 2017-18 school year.

After Avery Lynas completed fifth grade at Bonsall Elementary School in 2017 she became a student at Sullivan Middle School and began her competitive running with the Wildcats' cross-country team.

"When she came to cross-country I knew her to be a road racer," Miller said. "She was definitely not a new runner. She came to me and she won the first cross-country race that we had."

The Sept. 13 race utilized a 1.60-mile course at Dos Picos Park in Ramona. Lynas won the race for sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls with a time of 9:57. The second-place finisher, Olive Peirce seventh-grader Jennifer Parker, had a time of 10:37.

"She won the first race by a lot," Miller said.

Miller emphasized more than speed skills with Lynas.

"My goal with Avery was to work on her pacing," Miller said. "I taught Avery that she had to know her competition."

Attitude was not one of Lynas' needed areas of improvement.

"When you tell her something in the middle of the race, she listens," Miller said. "On my team she always leads by example. She's a joy to coach."

Miller added that Lynas wasn't deterred by hot weather.

"She always went into a race with a really positive attitude," Miller said. "She's a very friendly girl. She's really upbeat."

Heat caused the course at the league championship meet Oct. 25 at Kit Carson Park in Escondido to be shortened from 1.85 to 1.61 miles. A Pacific Trails (Carmel Valley) seventh-grader won that race in 10:08, Valley (Carlsbad) seventh-grader Malia Leupold placed second at 10:10, and Lynas finished in 10:11 for third place.

"Avery is a really hard worker," Miller said. "She is 100 percent committed to anything asked of her. It translates into a great race for her always."

Sullivan's sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls won the cross-country team championship.

Lynas credits Miller with launching her track career. "She's the reason I started getting into running more," Lynas said.

Miller noted that the strength, endurance and speed skills of cross-country enable runners to excel on hills and terrain.

"Not all of that comes into play when you're on a track," said Miller.

Fallbrook High School girls basketball coach Joe Barrios also coaches a club feeder program. Barrios, who ran cross-country and track as a student at University High School in Irvine and whose daughter was on Fallbrook High School's cross-country team as a freshman and sophomore, recommended to Lynas' family that she join the Time Machine club.

Lynas began her club running career this spring and has competed in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter events as well as the 3,000-meter run.

Lynas, who turned 12 on May 23, is currently ranked 19th in the nation among 11-year-old and 12-year-old 3,000-meter runners.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

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