GIRLS PREVIEW- NIKE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

LANDOVER, Md. March 12, 2003- Here’s an event-by-event look at the girls

events at the Nike Indoor Championships at Prince George’s County Sports

Complex in Landover.

60m: Ashley Owens (Colorado Springs, CO), Marshevet Hooker (San Antonio, TX), Jessica Ohanaja (Houston, TX), Juanita Broaddus (Philadelphia, PA), Jessica Oneyepunuka (Peoria, AZ) are the top entries. Owens blazed to a 7.40(A), the fastest time in the nation, at The Simplot Games on February 15 turning back sensational Allyson Felix (Los Angeles, CA) who recently

qualified for the World Championship team in the 200m. She will have her hands full with 2002 World Junior team member, Marshevet Hooker, a Texas signee. Hooker won the bronze medal at the World Junior Champs in the 100m and was a member of the 400m Relay silver medal winning team. She was also a silver medallist in 100m at the USATF Junior Champs. Ohanaja won the Arkansas Invitational in 7.50; Broaddus was second in the 100m at the Adidas Outdoor

Championships (AOC), and Onyepunuka was fourth in the 100m.

200m: Juanita Broaddus (Philadelphia, PA), Tiandra Ponteen (Greenbelt, MD), Jessica Onyepunuka (Peoria, AZ) are the top entries. Broaddus will try to defend her NIC title. She enters this year with the fastest time on a banked track, 24.35. Ponteen, a Florida signee, will try and add a 200m title to the 400m title she won last year. She will be also be running the 400m at

this year’s NIC. Onyepunuka ran 24.51 at USTAF and should be in the hunt in this very competitive race.

400m: Tiandra Ponteen (Greenbelt, MD), Diane Anderson (Denver, CO) and Jessica Onyepunuka (Peoria, AZ), and LaTonya Anderson (Millford, VA) are the top entries. Ponteen will have a busy weekend. She returns to defend her NIC 400m title. She has run sensationally over 300m and enters with a solid 56.6. Anderson was fifth at the USATF Junior meet last year. Anderson was fifth at last year’s NIC.

800m: Katya Kostetskaya (Jonesboro, AR), Devon Williams (Parkville, MD), Crystal Anyanwu (Greenbelt, MD), and Sarah Bowman (Warrenton, VA) are the top entries. Kostetskaya, the multi talented long sprinter/hurdler/middle distance runner, won the Arkansas state championship with an eye-popping 2:07.57. The Russian import’s time was 2 seconds faster than any time in the nation. Williams has the next best time. Anyanwu was seventh at NIC last year and won the Hispanic Games. Bowman opened the season with a splendid 2:52.44 for 1000m and will drop down in distance at NIC.

Mile: Megan Kaltenbach (Aurora, Co), Elizabeth Maloy (Albany, NY), Nicole Blood (Saratoga, NY), Margaret Infield (Beaumont, OH) and Sarah Bowman (Warrenton, VA) are the leading entries. The heralded Kaltenbach, a North Carolina signee, won the two-mile NIC title last year, but will drop down to run her favorite event, the mile. Blood will be a major threat. The freshman

showed great acceleration and tenacity to win the Millrose games in a stunning time of 4:52.00. She was third in the mile at AOC’s last year and an All-American in cross-country. Infeld, from the great Beaumont team, and Bowman, who finished second in the frosh miles last year, may be in the mix.

2 mile: Nicole Blood (Saratoga, NY), Katie Harrington (Carmel, IN), Katelyn Kaltenbach, Aurora, CO), Jennifer Boyd (Chesapeake, VA), and Katie Albright (Wake Forest, NC) are the ones to watch. Blood will be doubling and placed ninth at the Footlocker Championships. On January 18th, she ran the fastest 3000m time in the nation, 9:48.35, to turn back surprise Footlocker

fourth placer Laura Cummings (Bay Shore, NY). Harrington has had a great indoor season running a 4:54.71 mile and a 9:55.97 3000m. She also placed seventeenth at Footlocker. Kaltenbach finished a great sophomore year in cross-country by placing seventh at Footlocker. Sparks was twenty-fourth last year. Boyd was fifteenth at AOC’s and has run 10:53.40 two mile this season. Albright surprised all by winning the Footlocker South Regional freshman race with the fastest time of the day, 17:51. She opened her indoor season with a 10:17 at the UNC Chapel Hill last chance meet.

60m hurdles: Vicki Howard (Denver, CO), Chanda Hardin-Scott (Denver, CO), Candice Davis (Ann Arbor, MI), and Afua Amponsah (Woodbridge, VA) are the ones to watch. Howard was third here a year ago and has run the fastest time in the field for 60mHH, 8.49. City rival, Hardin-Scott, finished second in the 60mHH at the Simplot Games in 8.57. Davis was third in the USATF Junior

100mH and has run 8.57 for the 60mHH. Amponsah is ranked fifth in the 55mHH and has run 7.99.

Mile Walk: Nadine Navarro (Bay Shore, NY), Jasmine Brooks (Dirigo, ME) and Erica Adams (Spartanburg, SC). Navarro has the leading time by nearly thirty seconds and will be the overwhelming favorite. Brooks won NIC’s last year and finished fourth at AOC’s. Adams finished third at AOC.

4x 200m Relay: William Penn (Philadelphia, PA) was third at the AOC last year and ran 1:40.88 at the Armory Invite. Western Branch (Chesapeake, VA), Logan (University City, CA) and Bethel (Hampton, VA) are within a second of the leader. Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD) won NIC last year, but is seeded sixth entering this year’s competition.

4x400m Relay: Relay power, William Penn (Philadelphia, PA), won NIC’s last year. They finished second at AOC’s in the 4x4, second in the 800 sprint medley and enter with the best time of any of the qualifiers; 3:47.61 set at the Armory Invite on February 15th. Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD) was second at NIC’s and will look to dethrone William Penn.

4 x 800m Relay: Bay Shore, NY had the fastest time of all the entrants; 9:08.18 set at the Armory on February 14th. Distance tradition rich Rockford, MI will be the main competition.

4 x Mile: Saratoga, NY, Rockford, MI, Clarkston, MI, and Hope Valley are the

leading entrants. Rockford won NIC’s and finished fourth at AOC’s last year. Hope Valley was third at NIC’s and eighth at AOC’s. Clarkston was sixth at AOC’s.

4x55m Hurdles: Defending Champion Palm Beach Lakes lost only Kierra Foster to graduation and returns as the favorite. They will be challenged by Jackson, NJ, third at NIC, Hillsboro, NJ, fourth at NIC, and Wayne, OH, seventh at NIC will be the top contenders.

1600m Sprint Medley Relay: Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD) was second at NIC last year and returns as the fastest seed. Bethel (Chesapeake, VA) and the Detroit Cheetah Track Club out of Michigan will be the other top contenders.

Distance Medley Relay: Bay Shore, NY has the fastest time of the entrants and will again face Rockford, MI for best distance team bragging rights. Saratoga, NY, who finished second to Bay Shore at Yale on January 17th and Jenks, OK, third at NIC last year, will also enter the fray. The race could come down to the last leg and each team has a ringer.

High Jump: Ashley Robbins (McMullen CO, TX), Vanessa Maher (Detroit, MI), Debra Vento (Freehold, NJ), and Tara Phouthavongsa (Brockport, NY) all have marks of 5-10 or better. Robbins, a Texas A&M signee, jumped 6-00.25 last year and won the USATF Junior Championship. She finished second at AOC’s last year.

Pole Vault: Anna McFarlane (Concord, MA), Kacey Lundgren (Atascadero CA), Ashley Nolet (Lowell, MA) are the leading entrants. McFarlane cleared 13-00.25 on February 1st and is the only entrant over 13-00 indoors. Lundgren was second at her state meet, and thirteenth USATF Junior

Championships last year. Stevie Mashalek (Kent Lake, WA) was fourth at NIC last year and ninth at the USATF Junior Championships and is seeded eighth in this year’s competition.

Long Jump: Michelle Sanford (Irvine, CA), Tianna Madison (Elyria, OH), Marshevet Hooker (San Antonio, TX) are the leading entrants. Sanford jumped a windy 20-08.75 outdoors last year, but doesn’t have a mark indoors this year. Madison is the defending NIC champion and finished second at AOC’s. She has the leading indoor mark of 20-06. Hooker was fourth at AOC’s and

eighth at USATF juniors. Erica McLain( Plano, TX) was fourth at NIC’s, won USATF Juniors, and finished twelfth at the World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. Kara Dickman (Westboro, VA) finished eighth at AOC’s, and Whitney Marsh (Mountain Brook, AL) finished sixth at AOC’s and seventeenth at USA Juniors.

Triple Jump: Erica McLain (Plano, TX), Toni Smith (Montbello, CO) And Yvette Lewis (Menchville, VA) are the leading entrants. McLain has the leading jump, a remarkable 42-04.75 at Texas Tech on February 1st, and leads all entrants by a more than half a foot. She finished fifth at NIC’s, and second at USATF Junior last year. Smith was eleventh at USATF Juniors. Lewis was

third at NIC’s, and won AOC’s last year.

Shot Put: Michelle Carter (Ovilla, TX), and Kelly Fazekas (Demarest, NJ) are the leading entrants. Carter won AOC’s and finished third at USATF Juniors. She also placed third in the discus. Her father, Michael, was an Olympic medallist, and NFL player and still holds the high school shot put record with a Beamonesque, 81-03.5 toss. Fazekas was third at NIC’s and placed

second at Millrose.

Weight Throw: Kristen Callan (Central Valley, NJ), Della Clark (Kennesaw, GA), Kelly Reynolds (Warwick, RI) and Marie Stringer (Atlanta, GA) are the leading entrants. Callan was fifth at NIC’s last year, but has the top five performances indoors this year. Her best throw leads the other entrants by four feet. Reynolds finished second at NIC’s last year, Stringer eighth.

Clarke defeated Stringer to win the Simplot Games.

Pentathlon: Barbara Roberson ( Beaumont, OH), Tiffani Grimes (CA) and La Vonne

Idelette (Hampton, VA). Last year’s fifth, tenth and twelfth places are seeded much lower as the field seems to have gotten much better. Roberson leads all entrants by 300 points.