By Shreya Prabhu
Staff Writer | The Pacific Times
Ethan Tang competed in the 2025 Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships and hopes to do so again this year.
The USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships is an annual national multi-event competition for youth athletes aged 7-18.
Tang, now a junior at NP3 High School, qualified to compete in the 2025 Junior Olympics after participating in an Association meet in Rancho Cordova, CA, and a Regional meet in Tracy, CA. An Association Meet is the first step toward qualifying for the Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, where athletes compete at the local level. Those who qualified in the top eight of the Association meets move on to Regionals, where being in the top eight is the second step, where athletes compete for spots in their region to qualify for the national competition. Tang ran with the Azteca FC club, a Pacific Association team.
According to usatf.org, over 7,000 athletes from all 50 states gathered at the Ted Wright Stadium on the Savannah State University campus from July 21-27, 2025. The Junior Olympics consists of several events, including sprints, hurdles, distance races, relays, jumps, and throws. The nation’s top junior athletes compete for titles and personal bests
“The vibes of such large events are so lively and busy,” said Tang. “I was hyped already just by being there…I also got to explore the culture of the city that we were in.”
Tang said he competed in and reached a personal and seasonal best in the 2,000-meter steeplechase on July 21, 2025. This event consists of five laps on the track with four barriers and one water jump per lap.
“I’m for sure going to try and do it again,” said Tang. “I’m pretty busy right now with SATs, APs, and College Apps coming up soon, so I currently don’t have a lot of time to train. Right now I’m just doing conditioning with Tempo runs ranging from 2-4 miles and some days sprints.”
This year, the 2026 Junior Olympics will be held from July 27 to August 2 at Falcon Stadium on the Cerritos College campus in Norwalk, CA. To qualify for the Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships this July in Sacramento, athletes must qualify through these two qualifiers: the Region 16 TF Qualifier at Modesto JC from June 24-26, and the Region 16 Combined Events Qualifier at Logan HS from July 9-10 (paustf.org).
“I’m really encouraged to run this season because last season was my first season running steeplechase so I want to get more experience and improve significantly this year. It’s also an amazing experience to go to the different cities where the events are hosted,” said Tang.
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