Elia Ton-That (Adv. 208) qualified to run in the USATF Hershey Junior Olympic National Track and Field Championships in the summer of 2019. Elia is on the Cross Country and Track and Field teams at Northside. At the Junior Olympics, Elia ran the 1500 meter with a time of 4 minutes 44 seconds and the 3000 meter with a time of 10 minutes 42 seconds. She came in 6th place for the 1500 meter race and 7th place for the 3000 meter race.

Ton-That qualified her freshman year for Track and Field state for three events, the 1600 meter, 4×800 meter, and the 4×400 meter, so it is no surprise that she qualified to run for the USATF Hershey Junior Olympic National Track and Field Championships.

Ton-that said she had “a really fun experience, even though I didn’t really know what I was getting into when I first signed up!” She had a good time meeting new people from other schools and said that going to nationals in Sacramento was “like taking a vacation together!”

Nationals was a week long and Ton-That’s races were on Thursday and Sunday. In between, she said that “it was just like a regular vacation, my family and I went to Lake Tahoe.”

Although running for a club track team and running at nationals felt less like a team sport to her, Ton-That still had fun and nationals reminded her of the high school track state meet “because there were prelims, lots of people, and it was overall a good bonding experience!”

Reflecting on her experience last summer and looking ahead to this summer, Ton-That said “I’m sad summer track also got canceled this year. I was really looking forward to both the high school and club seasons.”