Posted on 08/18/2016 7:44:41 PM PDT by Coleus
After seeing teen star Sydney McLaughlin place 5th in her heat in the opening round of the women's 400-meter hurdles at the Olympic Games, many of the close to 1,000 people that jammed themselves into Union Catholic's gym to watch the race began to head for the exits. For some, the heat inside the gym was beginning to take its toll, but many others left feeling that the 17 year-old McLaughlin, a rising senior at Union Catholic, had probably come up short in her attempt to advance to the semifinal round at Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
But not brothers D.J. and Eddie Thornton, Mary McCabe (the wife of UC head track coach Mike) and her family, Union Catholic A.D. Jim Reagan Sr., Assistant Principal Jim Reagan Jr., and about 75 other diehards, who stuck around to see if maybe, just maybe McLaughlin could sneak into the semifinal round as a qualifier on time. "There's still a chance,'' said D.J. Thornton as he watched the remaining 5 heats that followed McLaughlin's. "She can still get in, you never know.''
About 45 minutes after McLaughlin's race, Thornton, Reagan Jr., the McCabe family, and the rest of the faithful fans that stuck around broke out into a wild celebration when McLaughlin's time of 56.32 was indeed fast enough to qualify her for the semifinals as the 5th of the 6 time qualifiers. Here are the full results. McLaughlin, who lives in Dunellen, is one of 24 women who will run in Tuesday's semifinals, which are scheduled to begin at 8:10 p.m. ET. The 400 hurdles final is scheduled for Thursday.
"That was so awesome,'' said D.J. Thornton, an All-State distance runner at UC before starring at Notre Dame. "To see someone like Sydney do what she's doing at her age
(Excerpt) Read more at highschoolsports.nj.com ...
This girl can do anything and is stunning...
She’s amazing and she just turned 17. She hasn’t even reached her maximum potential yet. She will have just turned 21 at the next Olympics!
My daughter attends Unon Catholic. She know Sydney casually, and by all accounts, is a great kid. I think Sydney did fine for her first Olympics and will do much better at the next Olympics.
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