Anyone close to Michael and Marcia Rose knows they have successfully passed their passion and talent for running on to their children.

Now the whole country should have the idea.

Their four children recently earned a combined 14 medals between the USA Track and Field National Junior Olympic Championships in Jacksonville, Fla., and the Amateur Athletic Union Junior Olympic Games in Norfolk.

“We are so grateful and thankful,” Marcia Rose said. “The kids enjoyed it.”

Their parents, too, enjoyed success back when they were the ones on the track.

Marcia grew up in Philadelphia, Pa., and benefited from the coaching of Tim Hickey, now a nationally recognized figured in the world of track and field.

“William Penn High School is where I ran, and I earned a scholarship to Auburn University, which is where I met Michael,” she said.

Michael Rose went to his home of Jamaica in ‘96 to try out for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga. He came just short of qualifying to compete in the 400-meter hurdles.

The couple moved to Virginia Beach in 1997 and has recently found a new home in Suffolk.

Michael Rose serves as the head coach of track and field and cross country at Tallwood High School.

All the Rose children have developed an appreciation for running, some sooner than others.

Michaela, who is 12, got her start in the sport at the age of 3.

“She did a whole mile at 3,” Marcia Rose said. “Her first nationals was at 4 years old.”

The Rose family has previously participated in both the USATF and AAU Junior Olympics of the same year, but the family set a new standard for success in that endeavor this year.

Michaela led the way in first-place finishes, earning two gold medals in Florida and two more shortly thereafter in Norfolk.

At the USATF event, she produced a personal record in the girls’ 11- and 12-year-olds’ division of the 800-meter run to finish in first.

Marcia Rose said Michaela’s time of 2:15.44 ranks her 17th among high school girls in the state of Virginia.

Finishers in the top eight of events at both the USATF and AAU Junior Olympics received medals and achieved All-American status.

Michaela took fourth in the 400-meter dash, then came back and won the 1,500-meter run.

Ten-year-old Michail Rose competed in the boys’ 9- and 10-year-olds’ division at the USATF event and won gold in the high jump, his first USATF medal.

He also earned a seventh-place medal in the long jump.

Michailyn Rose, 7, brought home a pair of silver medals for her performances in the girls’ 8 and under division’s 800- and 1,500-meter runs.

Fourteen-year-old Michael Rose Jr. came one centimeter short of being an All-American in the triple jump in the boys’ 13- and 14-year-olds’ division.

In the AAU Junior Olympics, Michaela competed in the girls’ 12-year-olds’ division and won gold in the 800-meter run.

She also helped the 4×400-meter relay team earn gold and the 4×800-meter relay team win silver.

Among the 10-year-old boys competing in Norfolk, Michail was the cream of the crop in the high jump, winning gold.

He also claimed a fifth-place medal in the 4×100-meter relay, while Michailyn earned a sixth-place medal in the 1,500-meter run for girls 8 and under.

Michael Rose Jr. had never won a national medal before, but he made his first one special. Competing in the 4×400-meter relay of the boys’ 14-year-olds’ division, he ran the anchor leg for Virginia Elite Track and Field’s team.

“My son has been the one that we have to push the most,” Marcia Rose said, noting he did not want to run track at first.

She was not sure how he would perform in the anchor leg of the 4×400 relay, though she knew he was capable.

“He showed everybody,” she said. “He ran one of the fastest splits in the whole meet.”

She noted a team from Maryland had the fastest time going into the final, but in the last 50 meters of the race, Michael pulled away to give his team the gold with a 50.9-second split.

On what her children’s success means to her as a mother, Marcia Rose said, “You think back on the hard work.”

Her children had put in a lot of time and effort to prepare, and sometimes the prep was a family affair.

“I’m happy with all of us because we did a lot of personal records and we accomplished a lot during the two Olympics,” Michael Rose Jr. said.

When asked why she and her siblings are so good at running, Michaela said, “Because God helps us.”