Madera athletes qualify for Junior Olympics
Sophia Mirelez (242) crosses the finish line in first place to qualify for the U.S. Junior Olympics in Sacramento next week. (For The Madera Tribune)
Three children from Madera’s Howard Elementary School will go to Sacramento to compete in the track and field portion of the U.S. Junior Olympics.
Ty Davis, 9, and sisters Sophia and Isabella Mirelez, 10 and 8, qualified for the event at the track and field tryouts, which were held at Fresno Pacific University on July 2. The competition will be held from July 25-31 in Hornet Stadium at Sacramento State.
“I feel really happy,” said Sophia, who will be running the 800- and 1,500-meter races.
“I’m excited,” said Jovita Mirelez, Sophia and Isabella’s mother. “And nervous, but really proud of it, and I’m really proud that they worked really hard to get to this point. They trained with their dad.”
Their father, Ray Mirelez, runs with his daughters two to three times a week along Riverview Drive, and in Lion’s Town and Country Park.
Sophia runs cross country and track for Howard Elementary, and runs for the Jets, a track and field team in Clovis. Isabella, who is running the 100- and 400-meter races, ran relays for Howard Elementary, and will be running in track and field and cross country like her sister next year.
Both Sophia and Isabella credit God with their ongoing success.
“He really didn’t walk — he started running from the time he was little,” said Shannon Davis of her son, Ty.
Ty, who will be running in the 100- and 200-meter race, as well as the long jump, was recommended for the Junior Olympics by his coach, Steven Bell.
Ty’s father, Billy Davis, ran track in the fourth grade, like Ty is now, and helps his son train.
“We play football together to warm up,” Ty said. “Then we do track and field, and then we go play basketball.”
Ty Davis and Sophia Mirelez, who have known each other since kindergarten, are friends and classmates.
