YOUR AD HERE »

Rifle’s Brownson going to Australian track meet

Alex Zorn
  

Rifle High School senior Jolene Brownson is heading to Queensland, Australia, to compete in track and field for Down Under Sports.
Provided |

Next month Rifle High School senior Jolene Brownson will be representing her country, state and town in Queensland, Australia as she competes against some of world’s best in track and field. Brownson will be one of 10 students representing Colorado on the 2017 Colorado Mountain Conference Track and Field Team in the weeklong competition dubbed Down Under Sports.

“I’ve never been to Australia, so I get to cross something off the bucket list,” she said. “I hadn’t heard of the competition before being nominated, but it’s really cool to go and represent America and my hometown.”

Each participant had to raise money to cover the cost of the nine-day Australia Tournament Package.



For her trip Brownson raised $6,299 through efforts such as by holding bake sales at City Market.

Brownson will be one of 300 American athletes competing in Australia. She is set to depart July 2.



“Rifle is such a small town, you just wouldn’t think that anyone would go, but I’m really glad about this opportunity,” she added.

While the competition encompasses all track and field, Brownson will be competing in discus, shot put, high jump and the 4×400 relay, not normally something that she competes in.

“I would like to go on and run track and field in college, it’s my favorite sport,” she said. “I just missed state by 10 feet, and now I’m representing America. I look forward to the momentum this will bring me for the 2017 track season.”

Brownson hopes to continue her track career past the Australia competition and her final season with the Rifle High School team.

“During the past 27 years, Down Under Sports has had the opportunity to share the land down under with tens of thousands of individuals from across the United States,” a press release states.

The 2016 Down Under Sports program will include competition in wrestling, football, cross country, golf, track and field, basketball and volleyball.

The goal of Down Under Sports is to provide athletes the opportunity to experience the culture, beauty and grandeur of Australia within the framework of competition.

Down Under Sports recruitment coordinator Daniel Carolan said that Brownson was selected for the competition solely based on her track and field honors and statistics from her sophomore season.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.