2000 USATF ATHLETE BIOGRAPHY
Duane Ross
DUANE ROSS
Event: 110m hurdles
Height: 6-0
Weight: 185
PR: 110m Hurdles: 13.12 (1999)
Born: December 5, 1972, in Shelby, N.C.
Current Residence: Clayton, N.C.
High School: North Gaston HS (Dallas, N.C.) '91
College: Clemson '95
Coach: Trevor Graham
Agent: Robert Wagner
Club: Nike
Career Highlights: 1999 World Outdoor Champs bronze medalist; 4th, 1999 World Indoor Champs; 1995 NCAA Outdoor champion; 1998 indoor 60H champion; 4th, 1999, U.S. Outdoor Champs.
Ross was a football and basketball player in high school. After a fractured ankle kept him out of basketball as a junior, he joined track to rehabilitate the injury before the next football season, and found instant success in the hurdles. He won the N.C. state title in his first season. Hurdling runs in Ross' family, however -- his father was a star hurdler at the same high school, and died when Ross was only six: "Both my mom and my high school coach went to school with him, and I hear a lot of stories about those days. I'll never know personally if he would have been proud of me. But that's why I keep trying to be the best"Ross earned his degree in financial investments and is considering retiring from track after the 2001 season to pursue a career in developmenthe has twin daughters, Rachel and Ashley (born in 1991): "I see them all the time. And they love it when they see their daddy run on TV"to "keep sane", he coaches a little league basketball team for boys, 12-13, in the Raleigh recreation league.moved to Raleigh in 1998 to train under coach Trevor Graham and with stars such as Marion Jones and Antonio Pettigrew: "We have a ball. If you slack off, you always have somebody behind you, pushing you"he says his own training has been focused on improving his technique, and he has spent many sessions reviewing the videotape of the 1998 USA Champs final in New Orleans, a race he did not finish: "I fell while I was in the lead.
1999: 3rd at World Champs (13.12)... ... 4th at USA Outdoors (13.41w )2nd at USA Indoors... 4th at World Indoors... 4th at GP Final (13.32)ranked #6 in world (#4 U.S.) by T&FN best of 13.12PR.
1998: Won 60H at USA Indoor (7.43 PR)2nd at Clemson (13.26 PR)2nd at Dortmund (13.24 PR)did not finish final at USA Outdoors (13.28 semi)3rd at Nice GP (13.47)ranked #6 U.S. by T&FN best of 13.24.
1997: 2nd in 60H at USA Indoor (7.52 PR)won at Orange & Purple Classic (13.50)did not finish heat at USA Outdoor Champs best of 13.50.
1996: 5th in semi at Olympic Trials (13.50) best of 13.45.
1995: Won NCAA Outdoor (13.32 PR)5th in semi at USA Outdoors (13.57)won 55H (7.22) at ACC Indoor5th in 55H (7.25) at NCAA Indoorwon ACC (13.89); 5th in heat of 200 (21.35w)5th in semi at World University Games (13.95) best of 13.32.
1994: 2nd in 55H (7.38) at ACC Indoor3rd in 55H (7.22) at NCAA Indoordisqualified from heat at ACC7th in NCAA Outdoor (14.11)5th in semi at USA Outdoors (13.78) best of 13.48.
1993: Won 55H at ACC Indoor (7.12)4th in 55H at NCAA Indoor (7.26)3rd in ACC (14.00)7th in NCAA Outdoor (14.08)5th in heat at USA Outdoors (13.85) best of 13.74.
1992: 4th in 55H at NCAA Indoor (7.32)did not finish 55H heat at NCAA Indoorwon ACC (13.61w)8th in semi at NCAA (14.04) best of 13.97.
1991: 4th in 55H in National Scholastic Indoor (7.44)false started in the North Carolina HS state meet4th in International Prep Invitational (13.91) best of 13.7.
1990: Won the 110H at the North Carolina HS state meet.
3/28/00