Posted: February 9, 2005

Athletics: Powered by Tyson Invitational features strong, deep fields

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The fields for the women's 60 meter hurdles and men's 400 meters will provide some of the most nail-biting competitions of the Powered By Tyson Invitational Friday evening in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Joining already announced fields for the women's 60m dash, men's long jump and men's mile, it is an incredibly strong meet from top to bottom, at the third stop on USA Track & Field's 2005 Indoor Visa Championship Series.

The Powered by Tyson Invitational will take place on Friday, February 11, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark., with events running from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will be televised February 12 on ESPN2 from 9-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Quarter-mile match-up

The men's 400 meters features a who's who of promising American youngsters, plus a world indoor champion. Teen sensation LaShawn Merritt of East Carolina is one of the most promising youngsters in an increasingly youthful U.S. 400m corps. USA Track & Field's 2004 Verizon Youth Athlete of the Year, Merritt won three gold medals at the 2004 World Junior championships, taking the 400 meters and anchoring the 4x100m and 4x400m relays to world junior records - and gold medals. Merritt got his collegiate career off to a roaring start last weekend when he ran a 2005 world-leading time of 45.94, earning USATF and USTCA Athlete of the Week honors. The dominant Division III athlete of his era, the 22-year-old Andrew Rock, from tiny Stratford, Wis., won three DIII outdoor titles at Wisconsin-La Crosse before making the 2004 Olympic Team 4x400m relay pool by virtue of his 6th-place finish at the Olympic Trials. He ran in the semifinal round of the relay at the Olympics to take home gold.

Bershawn Jackson has the most international experience of the Americans in Friday's race. The 2003 USA 400m hurdles champion, 21-year-old Jackson has a U.S. junior title on his resume, competed at the 2003 World Outdoor Championships and has found success on the European circuit. But it is a Grenadine that the Americans will most have to watch at the Powered by Tyson Invitational, as 2004 world indoor champion and 2003 Pan Am Games bronze medalist Alleyne Francique takes to the track.

Hurdles from heaven

The women's 60-meter hurdles features two of the world's most motivated hurdlers, along with one of the world's best year-in and year-out and the hottest young hurdler so far in 2005.

Melissa Morrison-Howard is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist, four-time USA indoor champion and former world indoor bronze medalist for Team USA. But early in the Visa Championship Series she has been stymied by Danielle Carruthers, who in her first season as a professional last month won the Reebok Boston Indoor Games and last week was runner-up at the Millrose Games.

The dashing American duo will have to look out for 2003 world indoor and outdoor gold medalist Perdita Felicien of Canada, who is seeking redemption after falling in the Olympic final, and Michelle Freeman of Jamaica, who is on a comeback after a 2002 car accident that injured Freeman and coach Bev Kearney of Texas and killed Freeman's mother and a close friend. The 35-year-old former NCAA champion, who was an Olympic finalist in 1996, posted a time of 7.98 seconds in the 60m hurdles last weekend, which is the fastest time in 2005 among the Powered by Tyson Invitational field.

60-meter dashing

The Nike men's 60 meters promises to be strong, with two-time Olympic silver medalist hurdler and 2002 USA indoor 60m sprint champion Terrence Trammell taking on 2003 world outdoor 200m silver medalist Darvis Patton and the University of Arkansas' own sprinting sensation, Tyson Gay. A junior for the #1-ranked Razorbacks, Gay is considered the top collegiate 60-meter man in the country and won the 2004 NCAA outdoor title in the 100 meters.

Fields for the Powered by Tyson women's 60 meters and men's long jump were announced last week. The women's 60-meter dash will be a featured event as the world's top-ranked sprinter and 2004 Olympic 200m gold medalist Veronica Campbell of Jamaica - a former Arkansas sprinter - faces a rematch with 200m Olympic silver medalist Allyson Felix. LaTasha Colander, the Olympic Trials 100m champion, is set to compete as well. All three women are currently ranked in the top 10 in the world in the sprints.

Distance derring-do

The men's distance races will provide plenty of excitement as former Razorback Alistair Cragg, the surprise winner of the 3,000 meters at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, makes his second appearance in the Visa Championship Series. The stellar field also includes two-time Olympic 5,000-meter silver medalist Paul Bitok of Kenya; Markos Geneti of Ethiopia, the 2004 world indoor 3,000m bronze medalist, 2001 World Youth gold medalist at 3,000 meters and 2002 world junior runner-up at 5,000 meters; and Irish Olympian Mark Carroll.

The men's mile run will feature fantastic international competition with record breaking potential. Three of the world's top 10 milers will line up with fast times on their minds. 2004 Olympic silver medalist Bernard Lagat returns to the meet for the first time since 2000 as the reigning World Indoor 3,000m gold medalist. Paul Korir captured the Tyson Invitational title last year when he set the Kenyan national record in 3 minutes, 53.26 seconds. He is also the defending World Indoor 1,500m champion. Laban Rotich will complete this talented lineup as he seeks to repeat the feat of defeating Lagat, which he did on the first stop of the Visa Championship Series, the Reebok Boston Indoor Games on January 29.

Star-studded long jump

Several of America's top horizontal jumpers will battle it out in what promises to be an outstanding long jump competition, where 2004 World Indoor champion Savante Stringfellow, the #1 world ranked long jumper of 2002, will take on Walter Davis and Melvin Lister. Lister is one of the country's most versatile jumpers, having won the long and triple jump at the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials, respectively. Davis, a two-time Olympian who qualified for the Games in both the long and triple jumps in 2000, is also an athlete to be reckoned with as the 2003 USA outdoor long jump champion. Olympic Trials runner-up Tony Allmond also is in the mix, as is 2002 USA indoor champion Miguel Pate, who has soared more then 28 feet indoors in the long jump.

Big names throughout the competition

Other big names slated for competition include four-time world outdoor champion, three-time world indoor champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Allen Johnson in the men's 60-meter hurdles; 2004 Olympic 4x400m gold medalist Dee Dee Trotter in the women's 200 meters; two-time Olympian Kellie Suttle in the women's pole vault; and two-time Olympian Hazel Clark in the women's 800 meters.

A bonus of $25,000 is waiting to be won by any athlete setting a world record at the meet. In addition, performances will count toward standings in the Visa Race for the Championship, with the top male and female athletes of the Visa Championship Series sharing a $50,000 bonus pool and prizes.

For more information on the Powered by Tyson Invitational - including complete athlete entries - and USATF's Visa Championship Series, visit www.usatf.org.

Schedule of events - Powered by Tyson Invitational 
7:00 PM COLLEGE WOMEN'S 1 MILE RUN
7:10 PM COLLEGE MEN'S DISTANCE MEDLEY RELAY
7:10 PM VISA MEN'S LONG JUMP
7:30 PM MEN'S 400 METERS
7:35 PM WOMEN'S 800 METERS
7:40 PM MEN'S 3000 METERS
7:40 PM WOMEN'S POLE VAULT
7:55 PM MEN'S 200 METERS
8:05 PM WOMEN'S 60 METERS HURDLES
8:10 PM WOMEN'S 200 METERS 
8:20 PM MEN'S 60 METER HURDLES
8:25 PM COLLEGE 4X400M RELAY
8:35 PM NIKE MEN'S 60 METERS
8:40 PM COLLEGE MEN'S 4X400M RELAY
8:50 PM POWERED BY TYSON WOMEN'S 60 METERS
9:00 PM POWERED BY TYSON MEN'S 1 MILE RUN