Shocking The Shocker

New Jersey's Ajeé Wilson — an Armory star from Neptune High — was named the 2011 Youth Athlete of the Year by USA Track & Field and will be honored at the Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in St. Louis, Mo., on Dec. 3.

In winning the 800 meters at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Lille, France, last summer, she became the first U.S. runner to even medal in that event at the Youth Championships. She out-kicked the global field to win in 2:02.64, breaking Joetta Clark's Garden State record by more than a second in the process.

Even yet, the national award came as a surprise to here. "At first I thought I had won the award just for my association," Wilson said. "But when I learned it was the national award I was shocked. There were so many great athletes nominated — a lot of my teammates from the World Youth Championships in France."

The Youth Athlete of the Year award — now 10 years old — recognizes outstanding performance by an athlete under the age of 19, but it wasn't the only praised heaped on Wilson this week as she was named to the Track & Field News All-America team as well, both in the 800 and as a member of the sprint medley relay.

Six Armory region individuals and a host of relay squads were named to the T&FN girls' team, which will be in print in the December issue. Joining Wilson are 100m sprinter Myasia Jacobs of Paramus (N.J.) Catholic, 400m dasher Precious Holmes of New Haven (Conn.) Hillhouse and miler Mary Cain of Bronxville (N.Y.) as well as a pair of Stanford freshmen — two-miler Aisling Cuffe of New Windsor (N.Y.) Cornwall Central and steepler Mary Kate Anselmini of East Setauket (N.Y.) Ward Melville.

The relay teams of note included PSAL standouts Medgar Evers and Benjamin Cardozo in the 4x400m as well as Bronxville in the 4x8 and North Shore in the distance medley. The full list can be viewed here.