Contact: Melvin Jackson II
Communications Coordinator
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0478 x322
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.usatf.org
USATF News & Notes
Volume 4, Number 3 January 8, 2003
===============================================================
In this edition:
- Voting to begin for mascot name
- Schmertz to share the fast lane
- Texas coach transferred to Austin for rehabilitation
- Selection races for the 2003 Teva U.S. Mountain Running team
announced
Voting to begin for mascot name
Track and field fans can vote for their favorite USATF mascot name
beginning tonight (Wednesday, January 8) online at www.usatf.org.
USATF selected the top six name nominations from more than 3,000
submissions. Fans wishing to see the finalists can visit the USATF Web
site, and those visitors casting ballots also get to take part in a
special "bonus round" of voting. Standings that display live rankings of
top vote-getting names also will be posted.
For more information, visit www.usatf.org
Schmertz to share the fast lane
For 27 years Howard Schmertz served as the director of the world's most
renowned indoor invitational track & field meet. For this year's event
on February 7, he's getting a much appreciated helping hand.
After serving for 25 years as the assistant meet director of the Verizon
Millrose Games in New York, Schmertz succeeded his late father Fred as
the meet director. Now at age 77, Schmertz will share the meet director
duties with 50-year-old David Katz. A Millrose official for 23 years,
Katz has been the technical director in charge of meet facilities for
the annual Madison Square Garden event for six years. Octagon, the
sports and event marketing company that owns the meet, made the
announcement of Katz's promotion earlier this week.
The second event of USATF's 2003 Indoor Golden Spike Tour, the Verizon
Millrose Games will take place February 7, and will be televised live on
ESPN2 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m., and on Feb. 8 on NBC from 2:30 - 4:00 p.m.
All times Eastern.
For more information on USATF's 2003 Indoor Golden Spike Tour visit:
www.usatf.org.
Texas coach transferred to Austin for rehabilitation
Texas women's track and field coach Bev Kearney has returned to Austin,
Tex., after injuring her back in a car accident in Florida last month.
The 44-year-old Kearney was transferred Monday from Shands Jacksonville
Hospital in Florida to St. David's Rehabilitation Center in Austin.
Kearney is recovering from two operations on her vertebrae and disc.
On Dec. 26 she was a passenger in a sport utility vehicle driven by
former hurdler Michelle Freeman that went out of control and rolled
several times.
Freeman was not seriously injured. The 33-year-old runner's mother,
Muriel Wallace, 63, and Texas academic counselor Ilrey Sparks, 40, were
killed. Sparks' three-year-old daughter, Imani, survived.
Those who wish to contact Kearney over the next several days are asked
to do so via email through www.TexasSports.com, or by sending a card or
note to: Beverly Kearney (patient), St. David's Rehabilitation Center,
Room 326, 1005 E. 32nd Street, Austin, TX 78705. Individuals are asked
to refrain from sending flowers or gifts.
Selection races for the 2003 Teva U.S. Mountain Running team announced
The USATF Mountain Ultra Trail Running Sports Council (MUT) has chosen
three venues to host selection races for the Teva U.S. Mountain Running
Team.
On June 7, the New England USATF Mountain Running Championship will
feature a 13.2 km race in Northfield, Mass. Also on June 7, the 10.1 km
Teva Spring Run Off in Vail, Colo., will be contested. The final
competition will be held August 9 at the Alyeska Mountain Race, in
Girdwood, Alaska, consisting of the Women's 7.7 km run and the Men's
11.7 km run. Both courses mirror those slated for the 2003 World
Mountain Running Trophy, which will be held at Alyeska Resort in Girwood
September 20-21. It is the first time the World Trophy will be held on
U.S. soil and only the third time the event will be staged outside
Europe.
The first U.S. male and female finisher at each of the three selection
races will receive an automatic berth on the 2003 Teva U.S. Mountain
Running Team, while the first men's USATF finisher at the USATF National
Mountain Running Championship also will
receive an automatic berth. The remaining members of the squad, three
men and two women, will be selected by the MUT Council. The first-ever
USATF National Mountain Running Championship will be staged in Vail,
Colo., on July 6 with the 25th running of the Vail Hill Climb.
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