Mid-Island Striders have ended their season on a high, returning from the AAU Junior Olympic Championships in Orlando, Florida, with a haul of seven medals ? five gold, a silver and a bronze.

Competing at the Disney World Sports Complex in temperatures bordering on 100F, the team were led by Jasmine Brunson and Deanne Lightbourne who grabbed two golds each.

Brunson, in her first overseas competition, broke the meet record in the 13-14 year-old girls? long jump and narrowly missed breaking the triple jump record, with distances of 17 feet, nine inches and 36 feet respectively.

Those performances put the young athlete on the USA National Elite Youth ranking website (eliteyouth.com), rated sixth in the triple jump and 11th in the long jump in her age group.

?This is really exciting to us because she only learned how to triple jump two weeks prior to the meet. She has a lot of potential and I?m looking for her to go over 19 and 40 feet in those events next season,? said Striders head coach Bill Euler.

Lightbourne continued to impress as she won both the 400 and 800 metres, having had to qualify in searing heat on the previous two days.

The double gold capped a superb season for the teenager who placed second in the 400 metres at a meet in White Plains, New York in May, qualified and then competed at the National Scholastic Indoor Track Meet at the Armory in New York in March, and placed sixth in her first indoor meet in the 400 metres at the second annual Hall of Fame Classic, also at the Armory.

Another gold winner in Florida was Chayce Smith who upset a strong field to win the 3000 metres and then two days later nearly duplicated that feat in the 1500 metres, having eventually to settle for silver.

At the end of the summer, Smith will be attending St. Augustine College in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Teko Bean, in only his second overseas track meet, enjoyed a personal best and a third place finish in the 15-16 boys? long jump with a leap of 21 feet, five inches.

One of the Striders? most disappointing performances was that of Whitney Matthew who was forced to pull up in the final of the 15-16 girls? 200 metres with a hamstring strain, having previously won both her heats in the 100 and 200 metres.

Like Smith, Matthew is about to continue her studies overseas, having obtained an athletic scholarship at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania.

Euler added: ?This was a good ending to our long season.

?Additional mention should be made of our other outstanding athletes . . . Keimar Clarke who competed in three overseas track meets this season and is expected to be leaving for school in January, Lovintz Tota, who will be attending Kansas City Community College in January and Zacch Rawlins, who won Champion Boy honours and and set three records at the Middle School Track Finals.

?Shahnell Woodley, who only trained with us for eight weeks, travelled to two overseas track meets and placed in the top six in both and set personal bests in the 100 and 200 metres, Santi-lah Knotts finished seventh in the long jump at the Loucks Games in White Plains, New York, and Taahira Butterfield, Victoria Clarke and Fernando Brown were all outstanding in the primary school track and field finals this year.?