Record-setting youth Victor Jaimez-Solorio leads a large contingent of Californians scheduled to compete over the next four days at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Florida.
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The AAU Junior Olympics start Wednesday in Satellite Beach, Florida and California appears to be well represented in the four-day competition for athletes in age groups that range from 8-under to 17-18.
The Golden State has 131 athletes entered in 357 events, including 24 top seeds and 12 with the No. 2 seed mark entered into the meet.
- Watch the AAU JO Track and Field live streamed on FloTrack.
The list of California athletes to watch includes 9-year-old Victor Jaimez-Solorio of Apple Valley. He set the 8U record for 1500m last summer and is the No. 1 seed in that event among 9-year-old boys. His seed time of 4:55 is 2.47 seconds faster than the existing record of 4:57.47 set by Ramses Dukes in 2001. Jaimez-Solorio also has the second-fastest seed times in both the 400m and 800m.
Kash Harris from Colton has the top mark in the boys 8-Under 400m at 1:00.00. That is 3.44 under the record set by Tyler Mapson in 2011.
In the boys 8U, Franklin Shelton of Berkeley has the top 200m seed time of 25.86, almost two full seconds under the standard of Sidi Njie in 2015.
Among girls, Daniela Quintero, a former CIF-Southern Section cross country champion from Harvard Westlake HS, has the top seed time in the 1500m for girls 15-16. Quintero, who has a seed time of 4:35, would need to drop 2.1 seconds to equal the record set by Gabrielle Wilkinson in 2014.
In the 14-year-old category, Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura has the top seed time in both the 1500m (4:35.21) and 3000m (10:04.81). The record in the 1500m has stood for 33 years, a hand-timed 4:34.1 by Melissa Benner in 1986. The target in the 3000m is 10:02.40 set by London Culbreath in 2016.
The following athletes from California have seed marks that rank either No. 1 or No. 2 in their event:
| ATHLETES | CITY | AGE GROUP | RANK-EVENT (Mark) |
| Jasmine Wilson | Lakewood | Girls 8U | 1-100m (14.38), 2-200m (30.42) |
| Leeah Combest | Covina | Girls 8U | 1-1500m (5:00), 1-LJ (11-00) |
| Kristen Theobald | Baldwin Park | Girls 9 | 1-800 (2:44), 2-1500m (5:27) |
| Kirsten Theobald | Baldwin Park | Girls 9 | 1-1500m (5:26) |
| Roxanne Rivera | Victorville | Girls 9 | 1-1500m Race Walk (10:39) |
| Nia Faulknor | Inglewood | Girls 10 | 1-LJ (15-00) |
| Azra Gercek | Irvine | Girls 10 | 2-1500m (5:14) |
| Keylee Baker | Orange | Girls 11 | 1-200m (25.70) |
| Kristine Bickler | San Diego | Girls 11 | 2-1500m (5:10) |
| Chiara Bonomi | Los Gatos | Girls 13 | 1-3000m (10:37.77 |
| Sadie Engelhardt | Ventura | Girls 14 | 1-1500m (4:35.21), 1-3000m (10:04.81 |
| Tiffany Sax | Calabasas | Girls 14 | 2-3000m (10:24.00) |
| Daniela Quintero | Los Angeles | Girls 15-16 | 1-1500m (4:35) |
| Galadriel Mellion | Stockton | Girls 15-16 | 1-DT (146-02), 2-SP (46-02) |
| Adeline Johnson | Belevedere | Girls 15-16 | 1-3K Race Walk (13:46) |
| Aleshka McPretl | Novato | Girls 15-16 | 2-3K Race Walk (16:52) |
| Natalia Quintero | Los Angeles | Girls 17-18 | 2-1500m (4:35) |
| Evie Cohen | San Francisco | Girls 17-18 | 1-3000m (10:01.50) |
| Franklin Shelton | Berkeley | Boys 8U | 1-200m (25.86) |
| Kash Harris | Colton | Boys 8U | 1-400m (1:00) |
| Victor Jaimez-Solorio | Apple Valley | Boys 9 | 1-1500m (4:55), 2-800m (2:29), 2-400m (1:05) |
| Brooklyn Ross | San Bernardino | Boys 11 | 1-200m (26.00), 2-100m (13.00) |
| Martin Esparza | Ontario | Boys 11 | 2-200m (27.00) |
| Wesley Winn | San Franciso | Boys 12 | 1-LJ (17-01) |
| Delaney Crawford | Rancho Cucamonga | Boys 17-18 | 2-200m (21.00) |
| Alex Mainvielle | Torrance | Boys 17-18 | 1-3000m (8:42.18) |