Contact: Melvin Jackson II
Communications Coordinator
USA Track & Field
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USATF News & Notes
Volume 4, Number 21 March 10, 2003
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In this edition:
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- Drossin shatters U.S. 15 km record
- Terek, Lott-Hogan win at USA Combined Events Championships
- Dunn leads Team USA to Pan Am Cup 50 km title
- Seaman, Armenta top U.S. race walk finishers in Tijuana
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Drossin shatters U.S. 15 km record
2000 Olympian Deena Drossin shaved 57 seconds off the U.S. 15 km record
she established last year and won her fourth-straight national title
Saturday at the USA 15 km Championships in Jacksonville, Florida. With
her performance, Drossin becomes the first female or male athlete to
accomplish this achievement.
Her time of 47 minutes, 15 seconds puts her over a minute ahead of the
second-fastest American all-time, Lisa Weidenbach, who clocked 48:28 in
1989. Drossin of Team USA California earned $10,000 for her victory
plus an additional $6000 for the course and U.S. records.
Meb Keflezighi, 27, also of Team USA California, won his third-straight
men's 15 km title by shaking Abdi Abdirahman two-thirds of the way into
the race. Keflezighi clocked 43:31 to Abdirahman's 43:59.
2000 Olympian Marla Runyan was the runner-up in 48:43, followed by
Colleen De Reuck (3rd-49:30), Sara Wells of Team USA Minnesota
(4th-50:07), Kim Fitchen-Young (5th-50:39) and Amy Rudolph of Team USA
California (6th-50:40).
Drossin's performance on Saturday suggests that she is in top condition
for the women's 8 km race March 29 at the 2003 World Cross Country
Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland. Drossin was runner-up to
marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe at World Cross Country
Championships in 2002, but the British star recently announced she would
not defend the title in 2003 in order to focus on the London Marathon.
The next Circuit race for men is the Papa John's 10 Miler on March 29 in
Louisville, KY, while the women's next grand prix race is the USA
Marathon Championship in St. Louis on April 5. The 2003 USARC - nine
events for men and seven for women offers over $340,000 in prize money
and a $25,000 grand prix ($6000, $4000 and $2500) for the top three men
and women.
Terek, Lott-Hogan win at USA Combined Events Championships
Paul Terek and Tiffany Lott-Hogan won their respective U.S. men's and
women's national titles Sunday at the 2003 USA Combined Events
Championships at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Named the 2002 Big Ten Athlete of the Year as a senior at Michigan State
University, Terek won the U.S. men's crown by totaling 5,870 points.
Terek won by a 139-point winning margin over runner-up Jeff Sander
(5,731). Defending champion Tom Pappas only competed in selected events
at Chapel Hill as a tune-up for the men's heptathlon March 14-16 at the
2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England.
In the women's pentathlon competition, 1998 NCAA heptathlon champion and
1999 World University Games gold medalist Tiffany Lott-Hogan won the
event by posting an American seasonal best with 4,317 points. Former
University of Northern Colorado standout Kim Schiemenz, who posted the
nation's second best tally this season earlier this year of 4,292
points, was the runner-up with 4,265 points.
For more information on the 2003 USA Combined Events Championships,
including the complete results, visit our Web site at www.usatf.org.
Dunn leads Team USA to Pan Am Cup 50 km title
2000 Olympian Philip Dunn's second-place Pan Am finish and fourth-place
finish overall, led the American men's squad to the overall team title
for the first time ever Monday at the 2003 Pan Am Cup 50 km
Championships in Tijuana, Mexico.
Dunn completed the course in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 1 second, finishing
behind Spain's Jesus Garcia, who won the individual competition in the
fastest time in the world this year of 3:46:46.
"My conditioning was pretty close to where I needed to be," said Dunn.
"I was going for the "A" standard (3:57:00), but I would have needed a
perfect day. The harder concrete service (as opposed to asphalt) and the
brick road in the middle portion of the course really took its toll. But
the crowd was amazing, especially when I was walking with a Mexican
walker," Dunn said.
Theron Kissinger finished 14th (4:58:10) and Bill Vayo 15th (5:16:44) in
a personal best. to round out the scoring for Team USA. Rod Craig
finished 16th in 5:18:33. Two-time Olympian and 1999 World Outdoor
Championships 50 km bronze medalist Curt Clausen did not finish the
race.
Team USA won Pan Am Cup women's 20 km team crown in 1998 and the men's
20 km title ten years earlier, but had never won the men's 50 km.
Several Mexican walkers finished in the top ten, but teams had to
designate five scorers for the Pan Am Cup. Only two of Mexico's
designated scorers made it to the finish line, leaving them one short of
the required number for the team championship. Mexico won the previous
11 Pan Am Cup 50 km team titles.
The 2003 Pan Am Cup 20 km races will be held next weekend in Chula
Vista, Calif.
Seaman, Armenta top U.S. race walk finishers in Tijuana
Tim Seaman posted his fastest time in nearly three years at the Mexican
Walk Week 20 km (12.4 miles) Saturday in Tijuana, Mexico. Seaman placed
14th overall in 1 hour, 25 minutes, 28 seconds.
In women's action, Susan Armenta led all U.S. finishers by placing 18th
place in 1:43:20. Ireland's Gillian O'Sullivan won the event in
1:29:55.
In a field that included the last two Olympic Champions, world record
holder Bernardo Segura of Mexico won the race in 1:19:06. The U.S.
Army's John Nunn had his second fastest time ever in 1:26:59, bettering
his 1:24:49 set last year in Germany.
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