Posted: November 2, 2004

Athletics: USA Track & Field names Verizon Junior All-Americans

INDIANAPOLIS- Nearly 300 Junior athletes from 42 different states and the District of Columbia have been named 2004 Verizon Junior All-Americans by USA Track & Field.

To achieve the rank of Verizon All-American, 287 athletes finished in the top eight places at the 2004 USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 25-27 in College Station, Texas. The meet was part of USATF's Verizon Youth Series, and competitors were required to be U.S. citizens and to be no older than 19-years-old during the 2004 calendar year.

The top two athletes in each event at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships qualified for the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships July 13-18, 2004 in Grosseto, Italy. Team USA won 19 medals at the championships, including 13 Gold, three Silver and three Bronze to turn in the second-best total for the USA in Championships history, only exceeded by the 2002 team.

LaShawn Merritt and Brittany Daniels took the spotlight at the USA Junior championships for their achievements and were named Verizon Male & Female Outstanding Athletes of the Meet. The 17-year-old Merritt, of Portsmouth, Va., won both the 200m (20.72) and 400m (46.80) national titles in College Station. Later in the outdoor season, he won gold in the men's 400m (45.25 seconds), 4x100m relay (38.66) and 4x400m relay (3:01.09) at the IAAF World Junior Championships, where the relay times were world junior records.

Brittany Daniels a native of Tracy, Calif., set a new American junior mark in the women's triple jump in College Station. She leaped 13.71 meters/44 feet, 11.75 inches in winning the women's triple jump bettering the American junior record of 13.58m/44-6.75 set in 1985 by Wendy Brown of Southern California.

For a complete listing of Verizon All-Americans, visit the USATF Web site, USATF.org.

From USATF.org.