Local athletes on the ‘Road to Rio’
John F. Brothers | 蘑菇视频
Connellsville蘑菇视频 Madison Wiltrout holds her PIAA gold medals for winning the Class AAA state championship in the girls javelin during 2014 and 2015.
Jim Downey
Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips once famously said the 鈥渞oad to the Super Bowl goes through Pittsburgh.鈥�
The same can be said of Eugene, Ore., Omaha, Neb., and Iowa City, Iowa, and Los Angeles in respect to those seeking fame and fortune in other athletic pursuits, for these sites are among the hot spots along the 鈥淩oad to Rio鈥� to gain a berth into the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The United States鈥� delegation to the 2012 Olympics in London totaled 529 athletes (268 women, 261 men) in 25 sports, and several local athletes hope to be part of the 2016 American delegation when it travels to South America in August, 2016.
The hopefuls come from Fayette County (Madison Wiltrout, Kaitlyn Johnson, Emily Zimcosky) and Greene County (Clara Santucci, Marissa Kalsey, Coleman Scott). I suspect this is not an all-inclusive list of athletes, so if anyone within reading distance is looking to or already has qualified for one of the American Olympic trials next year please pass the info along to the sports department (via email is the easiest .. hssports@heraldstandard.com or sportsnuts@hotmail.com).
Scott understands how it feels to represent America on the world stage of the Olympics after the Waynesburg Central graduate won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the London Games.
Santucci, the female champion of the past two Pittsburgh Marathons, has taken part in the process after running in the 2012 marathon trial. The Dilliner resident has already secured a bid to the marathon trials in Los Angeles, in February, 2016.
Johnson, a Clarion University and Uniontown High graduate, fell just over one-tenth of a second short of her first attempt to qualify for the trials in the 50-meter freestyle in 2012 as a recent college graduate. She found that extra stroke this time around, though, because she has already qualified for the Olympic trials in that same race.
The remaining young women are just that, young. Zimcosky and Wiltrout are high school students, while Kalsey will be entering her senior year at Westminster College.
The plan is to follow the group along the journey, from qualifying meets and runs, through the ups and downs of training, and, hopefully, to participation in their respective Olympic trials next year. Along the way, athletes who once hailed from Fayette County will describe their experience of preparing for and participating in the Olympic trials. And, for good measure, I鈥檒l pick the brain of local coaches and athletes of the various athletic disciplines in an attempt to describe the sport for those who might not understand how it all works.
The story continues for those who will be participating in the trials, and then, hopefully, watching their hopes play out in the 2016 Summer Olympics.