Sarah Yocum has been working hard to get into volleyball shape.That sounds facetious for a young lady who has been running all summer.Yocum, a senior at Faith Christian Academy in Arvada, recently finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at the National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Sacramento, California.Her preliminary time of 1 minute, 9.3 seconds was a personal best."I was very happy with my prelim times," Yocum said. "The heat took a little out of me and I didn't do as well as I would have like to in the finals. I'm so happy with the way it turned out."Right now I'm coming to end of track season. I'm starting the transition work to volleyball. During the volleyball season, I tend to bulk up and get into the heavy weight lifting. During track, I lean out."Yocum won the Class 3A state championship in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles as a freshman. She repeated in the 300 hurdles as a sophomore and captured the state championship in both hurdle events at the 2015 state meet. She was also second in the 200- and 400-meter dashes last spring."I play volleyball, but track is definitely my passion," she said. "In volleyball I just want to enjoy it and have fun with my teammates. It is definitely a secondary sport. For track, I'd like to go out and win four state titles and hopefully glorify God doing that.Reunited in FloridaWell-traveled quarterback Luke Del Rio and Florida football coach Jim McElwain finally have a chance to work together this fall.Del Rio -- the son of former Denver Broncos defensive coordinator and current Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio -- turned down an offer from then-Colorado State coach McElwain to attend CSU when he graduated in 2013 from Valor Christian. McElwain reportedly said Del Rio didn't want to play in the high altitude of Colorado.Instead, Del Rio decided to walk on at Alabama, but when that didn't work out because of the Crimson Tide's deep pool of quarterback talent, he went to Oregon State and played three games in 2014. He transferred to Florida, sat out the 2015 season due to transfer rules, and is now reunited with McElwain -- who said goodbye to CSU after three seasons to take over the Florida program.Del Rio headed into August preseason practices at the Gainesville, Florida, school as one of the candidates to land the starting quarterback job this season.Love for softball wins outValor Christian senior shortstop Lauren Foster is the daughter of Colorado Rockies pitching coach Steve Foster."I never played baseball but I grew up around baseball," said Lauren, who has committed to play softball at Wisconsin. "I would watch Little League baseball and I wished my parents would sign me up. But I love how quick softball is. You can talk to the girls on the field -- it's not as spread out as baseball."I love softball but I've also been around baseball, and the first thing I learned to throw was a baseball. I was throwing the baseball around in the back yard with my dad. I know some mechanics and a couple pitches. I can throw a couple pitches but nothing great."Barela wins Junior Match Play titleGriffin Barela, a senior at Lakewood High School, won the Colorado Junior Match Play championship Aug. 3 at Castle Pines North.Barela notched a 19-hole victory over Lakewood teammate Jack Castiglia in the semifinals and then beat Valor Christian graduate David Leede, 1-up, in the finals.
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/For-runner-volleyball-is-a-change-of-pace,233424
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