Gabrielle Jennings D2 3200 (10 yr old!!)

Hey , anyone know this girl's birthdate--I understand that she was in the fifth grade when she medaled at the track meet, right?--that means she turned or will turn 11 in 2009--I'm just asking because my daughter turned 10 on February 14, 2009 which quite possibly makes her younger than Ms. Gabrielle and my daughter was the runner-up, silver medalist in the 2009 state gymnastics meet on the balance beam---if I have my facts correct, then that makes my daughter the youngest to ever medal at a Louisiana high school state championship meet. I have made several inquiries with the LHSAA about this in an attempt to confirm these facts but have never received a reply--if anyone can shed any light on this, It will be greatly appreciated--by the way, my daughter's name is Chloe Colwart--she's now a fifth grader at Catholic high school in New iberia (she was in4th grade when she competed in the 2009 state gymnastics meet in division III) Chloe has moved up to level 5 in gymnastics and intends to again compete in the 2010 state meet in division II--also, Catholic High new Iberia will be fielding a full team at the 2010 meet with the full intention to be highly competitive for all around team honors--in 2009, Catholic High New Iberia was one athlete short of a full team and yet still finished fifth overall in the team standings--had they had that one additional team member they would have easily finished in second place

golly, she is just so cute i could just spread her on a cracker and eat her up.

her name sounds like gabe jennings

"Even most of the runners dont run..."

So you read this in a book...wow nice.... I lived there for 5 months with the runners. I saw the kids running and playing everywhere. They may not run to school exactly, but they are running and playing everywhere barefoot, and doing chores / herding cows/ carrying water / wood. Providing informal posture and form building so the "Running to school" may be an analogy in some cases. But the childhood is a huge contributor to their elite prowess.

http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=178917&format=html

So Anon, You don't trust what a pediatrician's 13+ years of schooling/fellowship/internship opinion? I feel sorry for you, it seems you don't trust anyone. I think my pediatrician knows all about diaphyseal plates and what damage ( if any ) can be done through running. DO YOU? I mean, dissing parents, GET REAL. My child did age group cross country and I saw 3 year olds running 1.25 miles in 19 degree weather ( see flowtracks coverage of cross country youth national championships in Ohio ). No child would run in that kind of weather if they didn't want to. Coming down on parents just proves you have a coach's pre- conceived nation that this is all about us and it is not.

For every example there's a counterexample. Jordan Hasay ran 4:34.02 for 1500 and 9:48.77 for 3000 at age 12 in 2004. I hear she's turned out to be a pretty decent runner. Once again, you can't take one person's experience and expect every young runner is destined to follow that path.

This is one helluva scoop. This story is everywhere ... how many days later? Nice work flotrack.

Okay Anon, I was using gymnastics as an example of a sport that starts kids out as young as 3 and they are done by adulthood. 2.5 miles is not that intense. Having someone judge your performance, run 25 yards full speed towards an inanimate object ( vault ) ,is intense , not to mention dangerous. Alas, we are talking about running. I don't think dad is being a stage parent. You folks must think we parents don't research before we get our kids into a sport. We do and we consult the pediatrician as well. That way when the fireballs start coming our way, we have some defense..

for every person out there criticizing letting 10 year old kids run 20 mpw (come on, that's nothing!) there is someone lamenting US distance running and how we'll never catch the kenyans because they grow up running 10 miles to school every day. What kind of double standard is that? It's great for kenyan development and hurtful to our kids?

Remember this 12 year?....and wasn't her first year of runner...either!

Adorable! Good luck this outdoor season and in future seasons.

It's really funny that this ten year old is really good in interviews.

A lot of high school and college runners struggle through interviews haha
the only struggle she has is knowing about the world of running outside of louisiana haha so awesome, hopefully she doesn't get worn down before she has the chance to run in high school an hopefully college!

"my dad was hoping I could run 11:50" pathic