Fast-Moving Verona Track Club
Seeking Support For Nationals

VERONA- Former Verona standout Kerrin Doldron has maintained her longstanding quest of helping to promote the continued development of youngsters in her favorite sport as they perhaps build toward their own high school days, and one of the premier events for her top performers in the Verona Velocity Vipers Track & Field Club are the 59th AAU Junior Olympic Games in Houston, Texas.

 

The first-year, local club program, which has been a huge success in rapid fashion, looks to see its middle-school-age runners compete in the Junior Olympics starting Wednesday, July 30, and continuing through Saturday, Aug. 2, with many events set for Turner Stadium in the nearly 6-decade old national track and field event.

 

While the accomplishments of the Verona-based program have been exceptional, there are many costs involved, and club has set up a GoFundMe page to try and help defray the many costs of such a trip. Click on this link:

http://gofund.me/kerrin-logo-21jun

“What makes the AAU Junior Olympic Games even more special is that this is our very first season as a team and these kids have made history, not only for themselves, but for our club and the community,” said Doldron, who is a physical education teacher at Grover Cleveland Middle School in Caldwell and also a former Verona High School girls soccer coach. “With that said, we are up against a tough financial challenge.

 

“The cost of flights, lodging, ground transportation, food and meet fees for our seven athletes who have qualified, and a few essential chaperones, is quickly adding up.

 

“The urgency to raise these funds is real, and we are humbly asking for help as we ask our community to help us get them across the finish line!”

 

Hoping to make the journey to compete in the upcoming Junior Olympics in Texas are 14-year-old San Zalewski (3,000 meters), 13-year-olds Ava Healy, Quinn DeMilner Penny Centola and Ava Silvagni (4x100 relay), and 11-year-olds Nash Warfield (800- and 1,500-meters) and Sofia Ahmad (800-meters.

 

Of the 12 athletes on the first-year Verona Velocity Vipers, eight made it past Regionals and into the Junior Olympics. Seven of those youngsters will be traveling to Houston at the end of the month.

 

Doldron spent two years gathering information on forming a track and field club as she learned all the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of competitive youth track. Her son Nash Warfield was very advanced for his age going back to when he was in the third grade and his mom knew the youngster has special talent.

 

“I was a competitive runner (400-meter run and 400-hurdles) for coach ‘Lep’ (the legendary Gene Leporati) for Verona and my father had run track for Cedar Grove High School,” said Doldron, who also ran a year of track at East Stroudsburg University. “I simply wanted to offer my son and his running friends more.

 

“In many other sports, such as soccer, basketball and baseball, there are always ore opportunities out there beyond recreation; but, that didn’t exist for runners, so I created it.

 

“After two years I was able to get it up and running. Starting the club was a project that required a lot of time, dedication and attention to detail. I’ve poured a lot of energy into this group of kids and I’m so grateful for how far we’ve come in just our first season.

 

“All in all this team was built because of a want to create better opportunities for my son and like-minded runners. We have all worked incredibly hard to get where we are, and now we face the challenge of getting there.”