Contact: Jill M. Geer
USATF Director of Communications
http://www.usatf.org
317-261-0500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
Brunson win men's 100m gold at WUGs
BEIJING - Marcus Brunson began the medal count for Team USA's track squad in
first-class fashion Tuesday night, winning the World University Games gold
medal in men's 100m in 10.15 seconds.
As he did in the previous three rounds, Brunson commanded the race from the
gun, using a strong drive phase to clear him from the field. Gennadiy
Chernovol of Kazakhstan was second in 10.29, with Christopher Lambert of
Great Britain third in 10.38. "My start has always been my strength," said
Brunson, who won his semifinal on Tuesday in 10.21. "I wanted to get out in
front of them and make them change their whole race pattern. I was
successful."
That success came after a wait of 20 minutes at the blocks, including a long
wait to be called into the blocks the first time around, three false starts,
then another long delay. Brunson said he wasn't bothered by the wait, instead
focusing on the result. "This feels very good," said the NCAA third-place
finisher. "It's my first gold medal in international competition, and to do
it on this stage is a tremendous honor."
Team USA found success in other events as well. Sarah Day, the NCAA runner-up
from Wake Forest, ran just five seconds off her personal-best in 33:25.45 to
finish fifth in the women's 10,000m. Day took the lead one lap into the race
when the pace was too slow for her liking, and held that lead until there
were 8.5 laps to go.
"They were running slow in the beginning. I like to run every lap at 80
(seconds), and they were running 82s, so I decided to run my race," Day said.
"I knew they were going to go with a mile or two left and I would try to stay
with them."
Day's Wake Forest Teammate, Janelle Kraus, was 10th in 34:25.08. Don Yanmei
of China ran way from the field with 600m to go to win in 32:45.14.
U.S. runner-up GiGi Miller of Arkansas was in first place in the heptathlon
after the first day of competition. Miller, who will also compete in the
triple jump at Beijing and is the NCAA indoor champion in that event,
finished the day with 3586 points, ahead of second-place Jane Jamieson of
Australia (3550). American Kimberly Schiemenz was in 14th place with 3282
points.
Miller had the fastest times of the day in the 100m hurdles at 13.61 (1034
points) and 200m at 24.02 (979 pts). Her other marks were 1.76m/5-9.25 (928
pts) in the high jump and a throw of 11.76m/38-7 (645 pts) in the shot put.
Schiemenz had marks of 14.34 (931 points) 1.67m/5-5.75 (818 pts),
12.43m/40-9.5 (690 pts) and 25.48 (843). The heptathlon concludes Wednesday
with the long jump, javelin and 800m.
The U.S. hurdles crew had a difficult go of it. In the men's 110m hurdles,
Ron Bramlett got a slightly sluggish start and never quite found his form,
finishing fourth in 13.49 and hitting several hurdles en route. Aubrey
Herring got good start but crashed nearly every hurdle before falling at the
sixth hurdle in a race that saw Soler Hernandez of Cuba and Masato Naito of
Japan also go down. Liu Xiang of China won the race in 13.33.
"I just ran a little sloppy," Bramlett said. "I wasn't running as clean as
yesterday. I'm one of those lightweight hurdlers - I can't afford to hit too
many. Today I hit a couple, and I paid for it."
In the women's 100m hurdles, Ellakisha Williamson was sixth in 13.35 and
Danielle Caruthers was eighth in 13.53. Williamson got a strong start, while
Caruthers hit the third, fifth and seventh hurdles. Su Yiping of China won
the race in 12.95 to make a sweep for the host country in the hurdle finals.
Qualifying rounds again went well for the Americans. Demetria Washington and
Mikele Barber were true to form in the women's 400m semifinals, easily
advancing to Wednesday's final. Washington again dominated her race, winning
going away in 51.66 seconds. Barber came on strong in the final straight to
win her heat in 51.97.
Andrew Pierce will represent the U.S. in the men's 400m final on Wednesday
after winning his semifinal in a smooth-running 46.16. Thomas Gerding was
fifth in his semi in 47.13 and did not advance.
Mary Jayne Harrelson and Janelle Deatherage both will compete in Wednesday's
final of the women's 1,500 meters after qualifying Tuesday morning. The 2001
NCAA champion from Appalachian State, Harrelson ran a controlled race and was
third in her heat (4:17.76) to advance automatically. Deatherage took the
lead at the bell was fourth in her heat in a season-best time of 4:14.96 to
qualify on time as the fastest non-automatic qualifier. Her performance was
faster than the winner of the other two heats.
Team USA's men's discus throwers also swept into their Wednesday final. World
University Games torch bearer Nick Petrucci needed just one throw in
qualifying (60.41m/198-2) to meet the automatic standard of 60.00. The mark
was the sixth-best of qualifying. Jarred Rome was ninth in qualifying
(59.45/195-0) to advance as well.
In women's hammer throw qualifying, Melissa Price threw 61.06m/200-4 to rank
13th, one place out of making the cut for the final. Maureen Griffin threw
58.48m/191-10 to rank 18th in qualifying.
Teneeshia Jones finished seventh in her women's 100m semifinal in a time of
11.84 and did not advance to the final. Abiodun Oyepitan of Great Britain won
the final in a time of 11.42.
In other finals on Tuesday, Jay Harvard was 14th in the men's hammer throw
with a mark of 64.59m/211-10. Nicola Vizzoni of Italy won with a throw of
78.41m/257-3. American James Parker did not achieve a mark. Elisha Williams
placed 11th in the women's long jump with a mark of 6.17m/20-3, behind winner
Maurren Maggi of Brazil's winning jump of 6.83m/22-5. Maggi also placed
second in the 100m hurdles.
Finals on Wednesday are the women's 10k walk, men's 20k walk, men's and
women's 400 meters, men's and women's 1,500m, men's 3,000m steeplechase,
men's discus, women's pole vault, men's high jump, men's long jump and
women's javelin. Qualifying is scheduled for the men's and women's 4x100m and
4x400m relays and the women's discus, women's high jump and men's shot put.
For complete Team USA coverage, visit http://www.usatf.org. For full results
from the World University Games, visit http://www.u21.org/cn.
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