4 on Marathom Track Club Make Junior Olympics

Four members of the Rancho Palos Verdes Marathom’s Track and Field Club qualified for the National Junior Olympics last weekend at the TAC Region 15 championships at UC Riverside.

Phil Kuo, Tammy Wilcox, Angel Pino and Alex Dederer placed among the top three in their respective events. The event featured approximately 1,500 athletes from Southern California and Southern Nevada.

The foursome, coached by Palos Verdes High assistant Barry Sacks, advances to the National Junior Olympics on July 25-30 in Spokane, Wash.

Kuo, a senior at Rolling Hills High, competed in the boys 17-18 age group and placed second in the high jump (6 feet, 2 inches) and third in the long jump (20-4 1/4) and triple jump (43-3 3/4).

Wilcox, an eighth grader at Malaga Cove Intermediate in Palos Verdes Estates, qualified in the girls 15-16 age group by taking first in the high jump at 4-11.

Dederer, a fifth grader at Mira Catalina Elementary in Rancho Palos Verdes, took first in the 3,000 meters (10:39.79) and second in the 1,500 (5:01.43) in the boys 11-12 category.

Pino, a ninth grader from Arcadia who competes for the Peninsula club, won the 1,500 (4:18.92) and 3,000 (9:27.36) in the boys 15-16 group.