Posted: June 8, 2004

Athletics: Olympic Hopefuls, Olympic Veterans Head To Hillsdale Michigan

(INDIANAPOLIS) Track & Field fans have an opportunity to see some world class 800 meter fields, led by two-time Olympian Jason Pyrah, and a world class 400 hurdles field led by Olympic Bronze Medalist Calvin Davis, at the Big Blue National Invitational, on the campus of Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale Michigan on June 11-12th, 2004.

In the men's 800 meters, Pyrah representing NIKE faces Indiana Invaders' two-time NAIA Champion from Northwestern College (IA) Jacob Koczman, University of Missouri All-American Timothy Dunne (NYAC), and Red-Shirt All-American Aldywn Sappleton (University of Oklahoma), and Aaron Lanzel (US Navy) who is ranked in the top 15 in the US.

In the women's 800 meters, Indiana Invaders' four-time ALL-American for Illinois Hope Sanders faces two-time NCAA Division II Champion and 2004 Drake Relay's Champion Kinsey Coles (North Dakota State), five-time All-American from Wake Forest University Jill Snyder representing adidas, and two-time All American from Western Michigan University Jill Stamison-McMullen.

In the men's 400 hurdles, Indiana Invaders' Adrian Swanson, a 3-time USA National Qualifier will compete against three-time NCAA Division III Champion Derek Toshner (UW-La Crosse), 2003 Drake Relays Champion Burke Bockman, and 1996 Olympic Bronze Medalist Calvin Davis a University of Arkansas graduate.

This will be the final opportunity for fans to experience and witness in person the spirit of this Olympic Season in Michigan.

Overall the Big Blue National Invitational features six Olympians including two-time Olympian Jason Pyrah ('96 & '00 1500), Bronze Medalist Calvin Davis (400H), Michigan native and Gold Medalist Darnell Hall ('92 US 4x400), Silver Medalist Nduka Awazie (Nigeria 4x400), Tanko Braimah ('00 Ghana 4x400), Michigan native Paul McMullen ('96 1500). Both Awazie and McMullen are graduates of Eastern Michigan University.

The High Performance Track & Field Series Director Greg Harger said, "Both the 800 meter fields and 400 meter hurdles are blazingly fast. Some records will be broken on June 11th and 12th in Hillsdale and some great competitive battles will occur in the stadium." Harger added, "We're excited and ready to go at the Big Blue."

Big Blue National Invitational.

For further information on NFTL, Inc. and NFTL produced events, please contact Greg Harger at 317 289-4018 or online at: (barnd@worldnet.att.net).