Fron left, Kingston Miller, Randall Harrison, Ben Giffing and Carter Joyner earned All-American status in the 800-meter relay with a third-place finish.
Several local middle and elementary school students made some serious noise at a recent national track and field meet.
Edward R. Baumann III, a fifth-grader at Austin Peay Elementary, won the national title in the shot put. Carter Joyner, an eighth-grader at Munford Middle, won the triple jump national championship.
Also at the TFCUSA Indoor National Championship meet Feb. 14 in Birmingham, Ala., Ben Giffing, a seventh-grader at Munford Middle, earned All-American status with a ninth-place finish in the 1,500 meters. Giffing, Joyner, Randall Harris (Munford Middle) and Kingston Miller (Millington Middle) took third in the 800-meter relay to also earn All-American status.
“They were all looking for some offseason training to get ready for track and field this spring,” said John Zubiate, the track coach at Munford Middle School. “The results were more than anyone expected.”
The students achieved national status for the EDA Flyers, a track and field program based in Millington that includes athletes ages 6-17 from Munford, Brighton, Bartlett, Millington, Arlington and Collierville.
“We are really excited to have so many kids from Munford to earn that kind of status,” said Erika Giffing, the long distance coach for the Flyers. “We are really trying to develop them to do well at Munford Middle and Munford High.”
The national meet included student-athletes from all over the country, including California, Texas, Florida and Nevada.
Dennis Alexander founded the team in 2016.
“We are trying to recruit local kids and eventually work toward getting some of them scholarships,” Giffing said.
More information on the EDA Flyers can be found here. For complete results from the meet click here.
