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Knight, Hall named Verizon Athletes of the Meet at Junior Olympics
8-3-2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Melvin Jackson II
Communications Coordinator
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0478 x322
Melvin.Jackson@usatf.org

MIAMI – Bianca Knight and Rannell “Speedy” Hall were named Verizon Athletes of the Meet after their performances as competition concluded at the 2003 USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships at Tropical Park. The meet is the third stop on USA Track & Field’s 2003 Verizon Youth Series.

Bianca Knight of Jackson, Mississippi won the youth girls 400m and was the runner-up in the 100m. The 14-year-old member of the Jackson Jaguars Track Club had a time of 53.87 in the 400m and 11.95 in the 100m that was the same time as the winner. On Saturday, Knight ran 23.81 to set a national youth record in winning the youth girls 200m dash bettering Angela Williams’ 24.03 set in 1994.

The 10-year-old Hall ran 25.83 to break his own record in the bantam boys 200m finals, bettering the national youth record of 25.88 he set Thursday in the second heat of the 200m preliminaries. The previous record was 26.01 by Richard Crawford of Texas set in 1996. Hall ran the anchor leg on the record breaking Metro Dade’s bantam boys 4x100m relay team in 51.63. On Saturday, the relay team ran 51.96 seconds bettering the previous mark of 52.30 by the Valley United track club set in 2002.

Trey Charles of the First Light Track Club set a national youth record in the youth boys 200m hurdles. Charles ran 23.99 bettering Chris Hickman’s time of 24.83 set in 1995. Johnny Dutch of the Junior Striders also bettered the previous record with a time of 24.49 to finish second.

The Florida Elite Track Club set a record in the youth boys 4x100m relay with a time of 43.25 bettering Boynton Beach Track Club’s 43.51 set in 2000. The Houston Heat Track Club set a national youth record in the young women’s 4x400m relay in 3:37.90 bettering the West Valley Eagles’ 3:38.83 set in July at the 2003 Youth Athletics Championships in Buffalo.

The University of South Carolina-bound Ronnetta Alexander ran 13.49 to win the young women’s 100m hurdles. The 18-year-old of the West New York Jets was just shy of Ginnie Powell’s 13.39 record set in 2001. “I was ahead early because I got out of the box first and I knew the winner would be based on who gets out first,” said Alexander. “I just tried to stay focused and clean over the hurdles,” Alexander continued. World Youth team member, Dominique Manning (West Valley Eagles TC/North HS, Riverside) ran 14.19 seconds to win the intermediate girls 100m hurdles. “I hit a few hurdles that knocked me off balance to the side, but I was able to straighten myself up and finish strong at the end,” said Manning.

World Youth team member Nicole Leach ran 1:00.56 to win the intermediate girls 400m hurdles. The 16-year-old Philadelphia native had to make up for lost time after the first 200m. “I was nervous the first five or six hurdles and I wasn’t going over the hurdles very smoothly,” said Leach. “I was jumping over the hurdles rather than hurdling. I had an over stride a little bit towards the end, but I was smoother down the homestretch as I was trying to make up time (that was lost) the last 150m,” Leach continued. Atlanta native, Siera Hill’s goal was to set a new record, but she fell short in winning the young women’s 400m hurdles in 1:00.40. “I had a lot of squishing (from rain) in my shoes coming off the curve,” said Hill. “I just ran my own pattern, attacking every hurdle down the homestretch.”

The University of Florida-bound Kerron Clement’s goal was to break his own 400m hurdles record from last year. The 17-year-old native of Trinidad was thankful to repeat as the young men’s champion after running 50.13 seconds. “I could have run a 49 or 48 because I was really relaxed and paced myself from start to finish,” said Clement. “I was happy that I didn’t stutter step which I always do the last few hurdles.”

The 2003 World Youth 110m and 400m hurdles gold medalist Jason Richardson won the 110m hurdles in 13.86 seconds. “I broke my rhythm because I hit one of the hurdles pretty badly and that made me have to re-institute my snap,” said Richardson. Earlier in the morning, the Cedar Hills (Texas) High School senior claimed second in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.90. “I am happy with my time in the race during the pouring rain,” said Richardson. “Both my contact lenses slipped below my eyes after the first hurdle. So I basically ran the last eight hurdles without any contacts,” Richardson continued. World Youth teammate Jamaal Charles won the young men’s 100m dash in 10.71 while placing second to Richardson in the young men’s 110m hurdles with a time of 13.90. Kevin Craddock of Alex Van Dyke track club won the intermediate boys 400m hurdles in 53.25.

Team USA member from the Pan American Junior Championships Elzie Coleman won the 400m in 46.67. “I just wanted to close down and hold the lead to the finish,” said Coleman. World Youth 200m bronze medalist, Cleo Tyson won the young women’s 100m in 11.79. Alexandria Anderson (11.71) and Krystin Lacy (11.73) claimed first and second in the intermediate girls 100m dash. World Youth team member Cody Harper ran 4:02.91 to claim first in the intermediate boys 1500m run.

Shauntel Elcock of the Fort Wayne Express had to overcome a migraine headache to run 53.23 seconds in winning the intermediate girls 400m dash. The 16-year-old Northridge High School junior is the 2003 Indiana 200m and 400m state champion. “I was very nervous and did not want to pull out of the race because of my headache,” said Elcock. “I picked up the pace on the curve and gave it my all the last 100 meters, I refuse to loose,” Elcock continued. Over the first five days of the USATF Junior Olympic National Championships more than 35,942 viewers have tuned in to www.usatf.org for the live webcast provided in cooperation with i2sports. Last year’s meet in Omaha attracted 25,000 viewers over six days. This year, for the first time, two streams of live video have been available, covering the running events and the field events.

More than 27,776 people have logged on to watch the races on the track, and close to 8,166 have tuned in for the field event coverage.

USA Track & Field and Nike have teamed up to provide Nike competition shoes to three Miami-area youth clubs as part of the 2003 USATF Junior Olympics National Championships, which are being held at Tropical Park.

The three clubs, Roosevelt Express, Metro-Dade Track Club, and the City of Lauderhill Track Club, were randomly selected from among the USATF-registered clubs in the Miami metropolitan area. Nearly 200 pairs of Nike sprint, middle distance and long distance spikes and field event specialty shoes are being distributed among the clubs.

Next year’s Junior Olympic national championships will take place in Eugene, Ore.

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