Contact: Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
USA Track & Field
(317) 261-0500 x317
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http://www.usatf.org
USATF News & Notes
Volume 3, Number 45 May 3, 2002
Women�s 10K featured at Cardinal Invitational
Led by Deena Drossin, a stellar group of U.S. distance runners will target a
new American women�s 10,000 meter record Friday night at the 2002 Cardinal
Invitational at Stanford University�s Cobb Track at Angell Field in Palo
Alto, California.
Stanford also will be the site of the final two events on USATF�s 2002
Outdoor Golden Spike Tour, the Oracle U.S. Open on June 8 and the 2002 USA
Junior and Senior Outdoor Track & Field Championships June 21-23.
U.S. stars Deena Drossin, Jen Rhines, Kim Fitchen and Nicole Jefferson have
their sights on Lynn Jennings� 10K women�s AR of 31 minutes 19.89 seconds
when they take the track tonight.
All eyes will be on Drossin, who has established herself as America�s
premier women�s distance runner. The two-time defending U.S. women�s 10,000m
champ, Drossin won the silver medal in the 8K competition at the 2002 World
Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland. A six-time U.S. cross
country champion, Drossin set a world best of 14:54 at this year�s Carlsbad
5,000 road race on April 7. In 2001, Drossin showed her remarkable
versatility by winning the women�s U.S. marathon title in New York in her
first-ever attempt at that distance.
2000 Olympian Jen Rhines will also compete at Stanford. Rhines was the
runner-up to Drossin in the 10,000m at the last two USA Outdoor
Championships. In finishing 12th in the women�s 8K race at this year�s World
Cross Country Championships, Rhines joined Drossin, and bronze medalist
Colleen De Reuck in leading the U.S. squad to the team silver medal. Both
Drossin and Rhines train with Team USA California.
Kim Fitchen enters tonight�s Kim McDonald Memorial 10K race with the fastest
U.S. women�s time this season of 32:18.82 set at Stanford in March.
Having set the men�s U.S. 10,000m record with a time of 27:13.98 last year
at Stanford, Meb Keflezighi will lead the U.S. contingent in the men�s 10K
tonight along with fellow 2000 Olympians Abdi Abdirahman and Brad Hauser.
Kenyans Luke Kipkosgei, Albert Chepkurui and Daniel Gachara are expected to
set the pace.
For the full schedule of events and entry list for the 2002 Cardinal
Invitational, visit:
http://gostanford.fansonly.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/101901aac.html.
For live updates of race results and splits during both the men�s and women�
s 10,000m races, visit http://EZMeets.com/cardinalinvitersits.html, or by
following the Live Stats section of www.gostanford.com.
Kennedy to appear on Indy Mini-Marathon telecast
Two-time Olympian and U.S. 5,000 meter record holder Bob Kennedy will appear
as an analyst for a local television station�s live telecast of Saturday�s
Indianapolis Life 500 Festival Mini-Marathon & AT&T Wireless 5K.
Kennedy, who won his fourth career U.S. 5,000 meter title at the 2001 USA
Outdoor Championships in Eugene, will appear on the telecast by WISH-TV
Channel 8, the CBS affiliate in Indianapolis.
Kennedy�s business partner, former top road racer Ashley Johnson, will
perform the same task for the local NBC affiliate�s (WTHR-TV) live coverage
of the race. The two men co-own The Running Company, a running store in
Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, the nation�s largest half-marathon with
25,000 entrants, includes a unique opportunity for runners to lap the famous
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500. More than 30
bands and specialty acts will be on hand to entertain participants and
spectators during the race.
For more information on the 2002 Indianapolis Life Mini-Marathon visit:
www.500festival.com/mini_marathon/.
Distance running standout Lafferty dies
John �Jack� Lafferty, the runner-up at the 1951 Boston Marathon, died April
10 of natural causes in San Diego. He was 84.
Lafferty was the first American to cross the finish line at the 1950 Boston
Marathon, placing fourth overall in 2 hours 39 minutes 52 seconds. The
following year he improved his time to 2:31:15 seconds and finished second,
2 minutes, 30 seconds behind Japanese winner Shigeki Tanaka. Lafferty was
later chosen as an alternate for the 1952 U.S. Olympic Team.
Remember When - Tarzan Herman
On May 19, a track and field legend celebrates his 96th birthday. As Herman
Brix, he was the shot put silver medalist at the 1928 Olympics and set two
world records. As Bruce Bennett, he became noted in the movies for a number
of roles, including being cast as one of the �Tarzans.�
A native of Tacoma, Washington, Brix attended the University of Washington
and starred for the Huskies in two sports - football and track. On the
gridiron, Brix was an offensive lineman and played in the 1925 Rose Bowl. In
track, he competed in the shot put, discus, javelin and hurdles.
He was the 1927 NCAA shot put champion and won four straight national shot
put titles. Besides twice setting the world shot put record, he also set the
American record three times. He won the 1928 Olympic Trials and was the
favorite to win at Amsterdam, where he led the competition until the last
round when Johnny Kuck, also of the USA, got off the winning throw.
Brix returned to Washington but moved to Los Angeles when the Los Angeles
Athletic Club invited him to compete for them. While in Los Angeles, Brix
met the actor Douglas Fairbanks, who invited Brix to train at his personal
quarters. Fairbanks told Brix that MGM was holding screen tests for the role
of Tarzan. The screen test was a success and everything seemed set.
�In those days, I was called a blonde giant,� Brix later told Mike Chapman,
who wrote the Brix biography �Please Don�t Call Me Tarzan.� �I was six feet,
two inches tall and about 195 pounds. In those days, that was pretty big.�
Before Brix could play Tarzan, he had a bit role in the movie called
�Touchdown.� On the first day of shooting, Brix fell and broke his shoulder.
That knocked him out of the Tarzan role, which instead went to Johnny
Weissmuller.
Brix eventually played Tarzan in three movies but later changed his screen
name to Bruce Bennett for fear of being typecast. Bennett forged a Hollywood
career that spanned 120 movies. He played opposite such great stars and Joan
Crawford (�Mildred Pierce�) and Ronald Reagan (�The Last Outpost�). He
retired from the movies in 1970 and later worked in real estate.
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