By KELLY FENTON
Leader sports editor
Arkansas Team Elite heads into the final day of competition today at the AAU Junior Olympics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Searcy’s Khaila Jones narrowly missed out on her second consecutive national triple jump title on Friday. Jones, who won the midget division triple jump at the Junior Olympics last year, finished second on Friday in the sub-youth division with a leap of 34 feet, 6.75 inches. Darielle McQueen won the event with a jump of 36-10.25.
On Thursday, Team Elite’s ‘A’ team qualified for the finals in the 4x400 young men’s division. The team of Larry Atkinson, Shaquille Brown, Demond Burns, Caleb Cross finished fourth in the semis with a time of 3:16.95 and will run in the finals today.
Also on that team are Taron Dunn, Terrell Heard and Antrell Terry.
Daijah Harris finished 17th in the sub-bantam long jump with a distance of 11 feet, five-and-a-half inches. Kiara Vaughn placed 15th in the 100-meter dash semifinals with a 14.32 on Wednesday, but did not qualify for the finals.
In the boys intermediate 4x800-meter relay on Friday, Team Elite A, made up of Marc Favors, Logan Rosson, Deonte Watson and Winston Avery, finished 10th with a time of 8:45.42.