Posted: September 2, 2005

Athletics: USATF News & Notes: Volume 6, Number 68

Americans to compete in "DecaNation"

Twenty American athletes - 10 women and 10 men - on Saturday, September 3 will participate in the inaugural DecaNation Competition at Charlety Stadium in Paris, France.

Created and hosted by the French Athletics Federation, the event provides a simple, concentrated formula that features national teams from the United States, Russia, France, China, Great Britain, Spain, Poland and Italy in an eight-team competition.

For both men and women, each of the decathlon events will be contested, with one event specialist from each nation competing in each event - 100 m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m. The winner of each individual event will earn 9 points for his or her team, with 7 points for second, 6 for third, and down to 1 point for eighth.

Competing for the Team USA women are: 100m - Tremedia Brice; 400m - Monique Hennagan; 1500m - Jenelle Deatherge; 100m Hurdles - Lolo Jones; High Jump - Erin Aldridge; Pole Vault - Jillian Schwartz; Long Jump - Grace Upshaw; Shot Put - Kristin Heaston; Discus - Becky Breisch; Javelin - Kim Kreiner.

Competing for the men are: 100m - Rae Edwards; 400m - Miles Smith; 1500m - Luke Watson; 110m Hurdles - David Oliver; High Jump - Adam Shunk; Pole Vault - Dan Ryland; Long Jump - Tony Allmond; Shot Put - Dan Taylor; Discus - Ian Waltz; Javelin - John Hetzendorf.

For more information on DecaNation, visit http://www.athle.com/asp.net/main.html/html.aspx?htmlid=2310

World Masters Championships update

Former Iowa State University standout Mel Larsen set a world record Wednesday in the M80 division in the 80m hurdles at the 2005 World Masters Championships in San Sebastian, Spain. Larsen clocked 14.75 seconds to better the 14.91 set in 2003 by Juuji Tanaka of Japan.

Also in hurdles competition, American Karl Smith ran 14.70 seconds to tie the M45 world record in winning the 110m hurdles. Smith matched the record set in 1979 by Thorlaksson Valbjorn of Iceland.

For more information and complete results from the 2005 World Masters Championships, visit www.conersys.com/at.