Posted: April 13, 2006

Athletics: News and Notes, Volume 7, Number 25

Mt. SAC Relays feature strong fields

This weekend's Mt. SAC Relays promises to be one of the best ever, headlined by many U.S. stars competing along with athletes from over 150 colleges and universities and 150 high schools.

USA, Olympic, and World Championships medalists join the fray

*2005 World Outdoor silver medalist and 2006 USA Indoor champion Chaunte Howard will compete in the women's high jump. She'll face 5-time USA Outdoor champion and 3-time Olympian Amy Acuff.

*In the men's high jump, 2004 Olympian and USA Indoor and Outdoor champion Jamie Nieto will go up against USC standout Jessie Williams, the 2006 NCAA Indoor champion and 2005 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion.

*The women's hammer throw field is crowded, topped by two-time USA Outdoor champion and American Record holder Erin Gilreath. Gilreath will be challenged by 2005 USA Outdoor runner-up Bethany Hart, two-time USA Outdoor third-place finisher Amber Campbell and 2005 NCAA champion Loree Smith.

*2004 USA junior champion and USC freshman Brittany Daniels will compete in the triple jump. Daniels finished fourth at the 2005 USA Outdoors as a senior in high school and was named the 2005 Gatorade Female Track & Field Athlete of the Year.

*2006 USA Indoor Long Jump champion Akiba McKinney will face 2004 Olympian and 2005 USA Indoor champion Rose Richmond as well 2002 USA Outdoor champion Brianna Glenn in the long jump.

*On the men's side, 2005 USA Outdoor long jump champion Miguel Pate will face tough competition from 2005 and 2006 USA Indoor champion Brian Johnson and 2006 USA Indoor runner-up Bashir Ramzy.

*2005 USA Indoor champion Jenn Stuczynski tops the field in the women's pole vault. Stuczynski, who began vaulting in 2004, currently is the #2 American of all time.

*Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson will meet Russ Buller in the men's pole vault. Buller was the 2000 NCAA champion to Stevenson's runner-up performance.

*Virginia Powell leads the field in the women's 100m hurdles. The USC senior has won the last two NCAA 60-meter indoor hurdles titles and last year's outdoor 100-meter title.

*2004 Olympic 400mH champion Felix Sanchez will compete in the open 400 meters.

*2005 USA Outdoor and 2006 USA Indoor champion Khadevis Robinson heads the men's 800m.

*2003 junior Pan Am 110mH, 400mH, and 4x400m champion Kenneth Ferguson will take on 2005 World champion Bershawn Jackson in the men's 400m hurdles.

*In the men's 200m, 2005 World Outdoor 4x400m gold medalist LaShawn Merrit will go head to head with 2006 World Indoor 60m champion Leonard Scott.

*The women's 200m field is packed, comprised of 2005 NCAA 400m champion Monique Henderson, 2005 World Outdoor 4x100m gold medalist and Indoor Visa Championship winner Angela Daigle, two-time World Indoor 60m silver medalist Angela Williams and 2003 World Outdoor 100m champion and 200m silver medalist Torri Edwards.

For more information on the Mt. SAC Relays, go to www.mtsacrelays.com.

Stars aplenty to compete at Drake Relays

The Drake Relays, Iowa's premier sporting event, will feature 112 events, including 22 invitational events, scheduled for the 97th running of the track and field extravaganza April 27-29 at Drake Stadium.

For the first time ever, there will be a special high jump showcase to kick off the Drake Relays on Wednesday, April 26, during the noon hour at Nollen Plaza in downtown Des Moines. Drake Relays Director Brian Brown, a former world-class high jumper, thought staging a competition away from Drake Stadium might help people connect with the athletes. Drake officials will set up a regulation jumping area, including a special Mondo turf runway. Speakers will be in place so onlookers can clap in rhythm with each athlete's theme song.

Five-time U.S. Outdoor champion Amy Acuff, who finished fourth in the 2004 Olympic Games, will join Chaunte Howard, silver medalist at the 2005 World Outdoor Championships for the showcase.

Acuff and Howard will be joined in the field by Gwen Wentland, who won the 2005 U.S. Indoor Championships; Karol Rovelto, who competed in the 2000 Olympics; Whitney Evans of Canada, who won the 2003 NCAA outdoor high jump title while competing for Washington State; Beth Castagno; and Carri LongThe meet opens competition with the heptathlon and decathlon on Wednesday and Thursday, April 26-27. The sixth annual distance carnival will start at 4:25 p.m. Thursday with finals in six running events, capped off by the men's 5,000m at 6:42 p.m.Preliminary heats will be held Friday with finals slated for the afternoon session beginning at 12:10 p.m., with the university-college men's 4x1600-meter relay.

For the first time ever the Drake Relays will host a Friday evening session beginning at 6:15 p.m. Finals in four running events and three field events, including the university/college division of the men's high jump will culminate Friday night.The Saturday session will begin at 8 a.m. with the 8-kilometer and the half-marathon road races. The first session inside the stadium also will start at 8 a.m. The Saturday afternoon session, which will feature finals in 37 races and six field events, will begin at 12:25 p.m.

For more information on the 2006 Drake Relays, visit www.drakerelays.com.

NYRR's Mary Wittenberg honored with WISE Women of the Year award

Women in Sports and Events (WISE), the leading voice and resource for professional women in the sports and events industry, has named Mary Wittenberg as one of three women recipients of the 2006 WISE Women of the Year Award. Sheila Johnson, Washington Mystics president and BET Co-Founder, and Beatriz Perez, Vice President Sports and Entertainment Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company are also receiving the award.

Wittenberg was named president and CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR) andracedirector of the ING New York City Marathon in April 2005. She made history by being the first woman ever to oversee a major city marathon. Wittenberg has made good upon NYRR's goal of becoming an even-larger national and international force in the sport of running. In the past year alone, she has overseen the awarding of record prize money, partnered with four of the greatest marathons in the world to create the World Marathon Majors series, and hosted the 2006 USA Cross Country Championships.

The three women will be honored at the 12th Annual WISE Women of the Year Awards Luncheon to be held in New York City on May 24.

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