Contact: Tom Surber
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USATF NEWS & NOTES
Volume 2, Number 61 July 11, 2001
Perez makes "A" qualifying standard for Edmonton
Triple jumper Yuliana Perez has qualified for next month's IAAF World Outdoor
Track & Field Championships in Edmonton by bettering the "A" qualifying
standard at a meet in Albuquerque last Sunday. Perez jumped 14.19 meters/46
feet, 6.75 inches, easily surpassing the "A" standard of 14.15m/46-5.25.
Perez, 19, finished second at the GMC Envoy USA Outdoor Championships last
month in Eugene, Oregon, with a leap of 13.98m/45-10.50. 2001 World Indoor
bronze medalist and reigning U.S. indoor and outdoor champion, Tiombe Hurd,
will also compete for Team USA in the women's triple jump in Edmonton.
An article in the July 11 edition of The New York Times tells the improbable
story of Perez overcoming tremendous odds to earn a spot on Team USA's roster
for Edmonton.
Born in Tucson, Arizona, Perez was in the room when her mother, Osmayda
Perez, was hit in the head by a stray bullet and killed while she was looking
out her daughter's bedroom window at their home in San Diego. Perez was three
years old at the time.
Following her mother's death, Perez and her two younger brothers lived in
foster homes for two years, before a friend of her mother's arranged for the
children to live with their paternal grandmother in Havana, Cuba.
In Cuba, Perez became interested in sports and became a national junior
triple jump champion. She was later offered a possible trip to the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney if she would surrender her United States citizenship.
When she refused, Perez was dropped from the Cuban sports program late in
1999.
For five months, Perez tried in vain to secure a passport for a return to the
United States. She finally persuaded officials at the Swiss Embassy in Havana
that she was an American citizen. She arrived in South Tucson, at a now
closed foster home, early last year with a backpack full of clothes, no job
and little understanding of the English language. She was later befriended by
Cruz Olivarria, a social worker, who invited Perez to live with her.
After traveling downtown one day, Perez took the wrong bus home and met bus
driver, Guillermo Diaz, who offered assistance. During their conversation,
Diaz learned of Perez' successful career as a triple jumper. Diaz, a former
runner, later called his friend Mario Pena, the sprint coach at nearby Pima
Community College, to tell him about Perez. After meeting with Pena and the
school's head coach, John Radspinner, Perez enrolled at the school.
Earlier this spring, Perez easily won the National Junior College Athletic
Association Championships in the long and triple jumps. She is now being
recruited by more than 70 schools, including traditional women's track powers
Louisiana State, Arkansas and Southern California. Perez will be a sophomore
at Pima Community College next year.
Perez told Tom Spousta of The New York Times: "I am not going to stop until I
get my dream. I'm going to train and work until I get there. My dream is
going to the Olympics one, two, three times."
To read The New York Times story on Yuliana Perez over the internet, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/11/sports/11YULI.html?todaysheadlines.
Toomey sets record at New Balance Maine Distance Festival
Jennifer Toomey, who finished third in the 800 meters at last month's GMC
Envoy USA Outdoor Championships, won her specialty Saturday at the New
Balance Maine Distance Festival at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Toomey surged to the lead early in the contest and won in the new meet record
time of 2:01.95, bettering the old standard of 2:03.68 set last year by
Michelle Ave. Nicole Teter finished second in 2:02.10.
Other winners Saturday in Brunswick include Collette Liss, who won a fierce
struggle in the 5,000 meters over Mary Jayne Harrelson. Liss won the race in
4:09.10, with Harrelson a close second in 4:09.12.
In men's competition, three-time Olympian Mark Croghan easily won the men's
3,000m steeplechase in 8:26.14. The U.S. Army's Clay Schwabe, who placed
sixth in the 1,500m at U.S. Nationals, won the mile in 3:58.91 over Jason
Lunn, who finished a close second in 3:59.01.
Croghan and Liss captured athlete of the meet honors based on top
performances according to the IAAF Scoring Tables of Athletics.
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