Contact: Melvin Jackson II
Communications Coordinator
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0500 x322
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.usatf.org
USATF News & Notes
Volume 4, Number 26 March 26, 2003
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In this edition:
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- Team USA heads to the Alps
- Masters gear up for Indoor Championships
- Jones leads eight Americans nominated for 2003 Laureus World
Sports Award
- Former USATF Intern leads Cinderella Butler to Sweet 16
- Titan Games telecast on ESPN2 March 29 & 30
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Team USA heads to the Alps
Led by 2002 silver medalist Deena Drossin and Meb Keflezighi, Team USA
is heading to Lausanne, Switzerland to compete in the World Cross
Country Championships this Friday and Saturday, March 29-30.
USATF will file live reports from Lausanne beginning on Friday. For a
full Team USA preview, a PDF file of the Team USA media kit, and for
USATF reports throughout the weekend, visit www.usatf.org
Masters gear up for Indoor Championships
Nearly 1,000 athletes ages 30 and over will invade the Reggie Lewis
Track & Athletic Center in Boston this Friday through Sunday (March
28-30) for the USA Track & Field Masters Indoor Championships.
Distance-running legends Joan Samuelson and Bill Rodgers will compete in
the women's and men's 3,000 meters, respectively, on Friday. Samuelson's
race is scheduled for 4 p.m., with Rodgers' to follow at 5 p.m. A
trackside press conference will follow Rodgers' race at 5:30 and will
include Rodgers, Samuelson, Olympian and former Chicago Bear Willie
Gault.
Other headlining athletes set to compete include NFL star Billy "White
Shoes" Johnson of Atlanta; 1984 Olympic 4x400m relay gold medalist
Sunder Nix of Indianapolis, and 101-year-old phenom Everett Hosack of
Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
For a full preview of the Masters Indoor Championships and results from
the meet, visit www.usatf.org
Jones leads eight Americans nominated for 2003 Laureus World Sports
Award
Marion Jones has been nominated for Sportswoman of the Year as part of
the 2003 Laureus World Sports Awards. Jones leads the list of eight
American nominees for the Laureus honors, including Serena Williams for
World Sportswoman of the Year; Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong for World
Sportsman of the Year, and Pete Sampras for World Comeback of the Year.
Jones and Woods won Sportswoman and Sportsman, respectively, in 2000.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, the only worldwide awards honoring the
world's best sportsmen and sportswomen on an annual basis, will be
presented in Monaco on May 20.
Former USATF Intern leads Cinderella Butler to Sweet 16
Former USATF intern Joel Cornette and his Butler Bulldog teammates
advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA men's basketball tournament last
weekend.
The #12-seeded Bulldogs (27-5) emerged as the tournament's true
"bracket-buster" with upsets of #5-seed Mississippi State, 47-46, and
#4-seed Louisville, 79-71, in the first and second rounds of the East
Regional in Birmingham, Ala.
Butler's starting center, the 6-9 Cornette led the Bulldogs against
Mississippi State with 14 points and eight rebounds. Against Louisville,
Cornette dominated the boards with a game-high 13 rebounds and 14
points.
Late in the second half against Louisville and in true Cinderella
fashion, Cornette leaped over the Butler bench in an attempt to save the
basketball from going out of bounds. He landed squarely on the cart
holding two water coolers, soaking his size 15 sneakers. Senior Rob
Walls quickly pulled off his own shoes and gave them to Cornette, who
finished the game in his teammate's sneakers.
Cornette, a senior from Cincinnati, worked in the national headquarters
marketing department during the summer of 2002.
Butler University is located in Indianapolis, a few miles from USATF
National Headquarters. Butler will meet #1-seed Oklahoma at the Pepsi
Arena in Albany, New York, on Friday, March 28.
Titan Games telecast on ESPN2 March 29 & 30
The U.S. Olympic Committee and production partner Bud Sports have
created two, one-hour television shows from the 2003 Titan Games. The
first will be broadcast on Saturday, March 29 from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. ET,
followed by another one-hour telecast on Sunday, March 30 from 4:30 -
5:30 p.m. ET. Both shows will air on ESPN2.
Viewers will get a chance to see Team USA's world-dominating shot
putters. John Godina is a three-time world champion (1995, '97, 2001)
and owns an Olympic silver from 1996 and Olympic bronze from 2000. The
32-year-old was a five-time NCAA champion while at UCLA and twice has
won USA Track & Field's most prestigious honor, the Jesse Owens Award,
as the top U.S. track and field athlete, in 1997 and 2001. He owns a
personal best of 22.0 meters/72-2.25.
Adam Nelson was ranked number one in the world in 2000 - when he won the
U.S. Olympic Trials, Olympic silver medal and posted the farthest throw
in the world - and 2002, when he won the U.S. indoor and outdoor titles
as well as the IAAF World Cup. He had four marks over 72 feet last year,
including a world-leader and personal-best of 22.51 meters/73 feet,
10.25 inches. The 27-year-old also was the 1997 NCAA champion for
Dartmouth College. Nelson and Godina were ranked as the number one and
number three throwers in the world, respectively, in 2002.
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