AREA YOUNGSTERS QUALIFY FOR HERSHEY'S TRACK MEET

Gabe Edwards

This area apparently has some budding young track and field athletes.

Evidence of that is the fact that five local youngsters have qualified for the Hershey's Track and Field Youth Program North American Final Meet.

The 21st annual event, which will feature 480 of the top young track and field athletes in North America, will be held be held Aug. 15 in Hershey, Pa.

Gabe Edwards of Cape Girardeau is the only local athlete who qualified in an individual event.

A first-year participant in the Hershey's Track and Field program, 12-year-old Gabe qualified in the long jump.

The other qualifiers make up the `Southeast Missouri KitKats,' a 4x100-meter relay team.

On the relay squad are Taylor Sanders, Bobbi-Jo Schlick and Courtney Beussink, three 8-year-olds from Jackson, along with 9-year-old Nikole Johnson of Chaffee.

Yvonne Hente, a former standout sprinter at Southeast Missouri State University, has helped coach the girls and she said they have plenty of potential.

"They have run very good," said Hente. "If they get the handoffs clean, they'll be right in there (at the North American meet)."

Only seven athletes from Missouri qualified for the North American Final Meet, meaning that all but two of them come from Southeast Missouri.

The five local athletes first competed in the local Hershey's meet held in Cape Girardeau. They then advanced to the state meet in Jefferson City.