Prep's Alvarado '14 qualifies for World Youth Championship Trials
By Mary Albl, April 17, 2013, Fairfield Minuteman
Fairfield Prep’s Christian Alvarado was first contacted through Twitter this month that he had qualified for the World Youth Championship Trials this summer. “I was more surprised than anything,” he said.
Alvarado, a standout junior distance runner, qualified for the trials at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ill. (June 25-30) in the 1,500 meter run, 3,000 and 2,000 steeplechase. Alvarado said the plan is to make the United States team in the 2,000 steeplechase.
“It's something that I never really thought about since it is only every two years,” he said.
According to USA.milesplit.com, the first two finishers in each event, provided they have meet the IAAF World Youth championship qualifying standard, will be placed in a pool and the team will be selected from that pool. This year only 40 members total will be selected for the United States team.
If all goes according to plan, and Alvarado runs well and qualifies, he will be headed to the World Youth Championships, which are held in Donetsk, Ukraine (July 10-14).
“This would be huge no doubt,” Alvarado said. “Not many high school athletes get the chance to compete on an international level, the highest level an athlete can complete on. It would definitely be the icing on the cake and possibly more for my junior year.”
Alvarado is in the midst of the outdoor track and field season at Prep. He finished the indoor season winning numerous titles, including the 2 mile at New Englands in Boston and placing well at the New Balance Indoor Championships in New York City in March.
He is set to compete at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania next weekend, April 25-27. He will be running the 3,000. “(I’m) going to try to break our school record set by Connor Rog (8:31) at the Penn Relays too,” he said.
For more information on the World Youth Championship Trials visit, http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2013/IAAF-World-Youth-Championships.aspx.