BUDAPEST, Hungary – Christian Cantwell and Reese Hoffa went 1-2 in the men’s shot put, Gail Devers and Bryan Clay picked up silver medals, and Shayne Culpepper provided a surprising and inspiring bronze medal to close out competition for Team USA Sunday at the IAAF World Indoor Track & Field Championships.

The sweep by Cantwell and Hoffa replicated the 1-2 feat last achieved by John Godina and Adam Nelson in 2001. Neither Cantwell nor Hoffa let anyone else get seriously involved in the competition for gold or silver, as they held the 1-2 position from the first round onward.

In his first throw of the competition, Cantwell posted a solid 20.96 meters/68-9.25 to take a lead he would hold until the final throw of the first round. Hoffa at that time erupted with a personal-best throw of 21.07/69-1.5 to seize the lead.

His reign atop the standings would last only three more throws, as Cantwell’s winning toss of 21.49/70-6.25 – his second-best of the year – came in the second round. Cantwell and Hoffa remained 1-2 at competition’s end, with Joaquim Olsen of Denmark third at 20.99/68-10.5.

“My first throw was nice and easy, just to get one in,” said Cantwell, who had closed out the 2003 outdoor season with a win at the IAAF World Athletics Final. “My next one, I killed it. After that, I knew it would take somebody throwing a yearly personal best to beat me.”

Although Hoffa’s personal best wasn’t enough to unseat Cantwell, he was thrilled with the result.

“I knew coming in I’d have to get a big throw early,” he said. “You don’t know when somebody’s going to come back on you. I knew if I put in a big throw in the first round, I could scare a few people.”

Bryan Clay moved to #2 all-time on the U.S. indoor heptathlon list with his second-place performance of 6,365 points in the heptathlon, finishing behind Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic (6,438).

Clay’s score surpassed the 2003 World Indoor winning total of 6,361 by Tom Pappas, and puts him behind only world record holder Dan O’Brien (6,576) all-time among Americans. It was an impressive performance in an impressive competition for the 2003 U.S. outdoor decathlon runner-up, who set indoor personal bests in five of the seven events at Budapest (60m, 60m hurdles, pole vault, high jump, 1,000m).

“I knew I could do these performances, but I didn’t expect them this early [in the year],” Clay said. “I haven’t tried to peak for this meet. We had a great field. If those people weren’t there, Roman and I wouldn’t have scored as high as we did. I know what I need to work on, and I’ll be even sharper for Athens.”

Entering the day in second place behind Sebrle, Clay retook first in the first heptathlon event Sunday, with his winning time of 7.77 in the 60m hurdles. Sebrle clocked 7.95 for fourth in the race, giving Clay a one-point edge, 4,713 to 4,712. Clay extended his lead after the pole vault when cleared 4.90/16-1 to Sebrle’s 4.80/15-9, putting him in the lead by 5,593 to 5,561. But the 1,000 is one of Sebrle’s stronger events, and his time of 2:39.68 to Clay’s 2:49.41 gave him the win.

Gail Devers (7.78) and Joanna Hayes (7.86) went 2-4 in the women’s 60m hurdles. Devers held a narrow lead in the race until the last hurdle, when reigning world outdoor champion Perdita Felicien of Canada moved ahead to win in a championship-record time of 7.75.

“I wasn’t pleased with my start, and I didn’t come off the last hurdle well,” said Devers, who on Friday won her third world indoor 60m dash title. “I feel fine [about her performance at the meet]. I did something no one thought I could do, and that’s come back and win the 60 again. I think my hurdle technique suffered as a result.”

It was the end of a busy day for the women’s hurdlers. Devers posted identical times of 7.88 in the first two rounds of the hurdles earlier Sunday, and Hayes set a personal best and became the third-fastest American in history (tied with Melissa Morrison) with her semifinal time of 7.83.

The surprise performance of the day came from Shayne Culpepper in the women’s 3,000 meters. The final qualifier on time from Friday’s preliminary round, she had been sorely disappointed with her performance and didn’t expect even to make the final. Sunday’s race played to the strengths of the 2000 Olympian at 1,500 meters, however, and she made the most of it, tactically capitalizing on a slow pace that saw the pack come through a 5:15 first mile. She moved from near the back of the pack to mid-pack with 500 meters to go, then made her big move, into third, with 300 to go.

Culpepper then surged ahead of Marta Dominguez of Spain and Yelena Zadorozhnaya of Russia with one lap to go. On the backstretch, Zadorozhnaya clipped Culpepper from behind. After stumbling, Culpepper regained her composure and sprinted the finish in 9:12.15, in third behind Ehiopians Meseret Defar (9:11.22) – the world junior 3,000 and 5,000 champion - and Berhane Adere (9:11.43) – the reigning world outdoor 10,000m champion. The world outdoor 5,000m silver medalist, Dominguez came fourth in 9:12.85.

Jen Toomey finished just out of the medals in the women’s 800 meters. Competing in her first world championships final, Toomey was boxed in for much of the race, but finally managed to move out from the rail 50 meters from the finish. Toomey placed fourth in a personal best time of 1:59.64 as Maria Mutola of Mozambique won the sixth world indoor title of her career, sprinting past world record holder Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia to win in 1:58.51, ahead of Ceplak’s 1:58.72. Joanne Fenn of Great Britain moved from last to third in the final 100 meters to win bronze in 1:59.50.

Running out of lane 2, Jimmie Hackley placed fifth in the men’s 200 meters in 21.53, with Demeritte Dominic of Bahamas winning in a national record 20.66. The race, which will no longer be contested at the World Indoor Championships due to finishing order being determined almost exclusively by lane draw, was a vivid illustration of the logistical problems with running the 200m indoors on the world level: athletes finished Sunday’s final in the opposite order of their lane draw, with lane 6 winning, followed by lanes 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1.

Team USA’s men’s 4x400m relay appeared to be on the way to gold, but a dropped baton on the final handoff moved the team back to a third-place finish that was later disqualified. James Carter finished the lead-off leg narrowly in second, and handed off to 2001 world indoor silver medalist Milton Campbell. Campbell inched into a quarter-step lead as he handed off to 2004 world indoor finalist Joe Mendel. Mendel settled into second behind Michael McDonald of Jamaica, then moved strongly past him with 100m to go.

The baton fell to the track on the handoff between Mendel and anchor leg Godfrey Herring. Believing he had the baton, Herring moved to start his leg, but realized he no longer held the stick. Both the baton and Mendel hit the track as Mendel and Herring tried to put the baton back in Herring’s hand. “I watched it [the baton] the whole way in. I reached and grabbed it, but I didn’t seal it,” said Herring. “I looked forward, then back, and it was bobbling on my shoulder. I couldn’t get a hold of it, and Joe let go as he was falling.”

Herring went back to pick up the baton and finished the race in third, but the team was disqualified after officials ruled that Herring never had possession of the baton. If a baton is dropped, IAAF rule 170.13 indicates that the baton must be recovered by the runner who last had possession.

The women’s 4x400m relay team of Ellannee Richardson, GiGi Miller, Natasha Hastings and Moushaumi Robinson was fourth in their preliminary heat in 3:33.38 and did not advance to the final.

The top performances of the day were turned in by Christian Olsson of Sweden, who tied the world record in the triple jump with his mark of 17.83m/58-6; and the Russian women’s 4x400m team of Olesya Krasnomovets, Olga Kotlyarova, Tatyana Levina and Natalya Nazarova, who broke the world record with their time of 3:23.88.

For Team USA coverage, rosters and athlete quotes, visit www.usatf.org. For a complete schedule and results from the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships, visit www.iaaf.org

TEAM USA QUOTES Saturday, March 6

Christian Cantwell, men’s shot put (21.49m/70-6.25) – “Everything went basically how I planned. My first throw was nice and easy, just to get one in. My next one, I killed it. After that, I knew it would take somebody throwing a yearly personal best to beat me. My goal was to win. After I won the World Athletics Final last year, I said I wanted to win World Indoors, and I did that. I’m going to take this momentum and keep going. In major competition, when you have your second-best throw of the year, it’s a good thing.”

Reese Hoffa, men’s shot put (21.07/69-1.5, 2nd, personal best) – “I knew coming in I’d have to get a big throw early. You don’t know when somebody’s going to come back on you. I knew if I put in a big throw in the first round, I could scare a few people. American shot putting has always been a revolving door. Adam [Nelson] and John [Godina] were dominant for a good bit of time. I knew if I stayed in it long enough and kept working, my time would come.”

Bryan Clay, heptathlon (6,365, 2nd) – “This was a great competition. I had Roman [Sebrle] to step everything up. It made me do better. I’m not really happy with what I did in the 1,000, but the multis are never about one event.

On leading heading into the 1,000: “I was really nervous. It’s not very often that I’m in the lead going into the last event. Knowing it is not one of my strongest events, it took everyone around me to keep from falling apart. I never expected to be in the lead. I knew I could do these performances, but I didn’t expect them this early. I haven’t tried to peak for this meet. We had a great field. If those people weren’t there, Roman and I wouldn’t have scored as high as we did. I know what I need to work on, and I’ll be even sharper for Athens.”

Gail Devers, women’s 60m hurdles (7.78, 2nd) – “I wasn’t pleased with my start, and I didn’t come off the last hurdle well. I feel fine [about her performance at the meet]. I’m glad I came. I did something no one thought I could do, and that’s come back and win the 60 again. I think my hurdle technique suffered as a result.”

Joanna Hayes, women’s 60m hurdles (7.86, 4th) – “I don’t know if my legs are fatigued, but they just did not snap back coming over the hurdles. I’ve never done it [3 races in one day], but that’s no excuse. Everybody had to run three heats today.”

Shayne Culpepper, women’s 3,000m (9:12.15, 3rd): “I’m freaking out! I tactically did really well. I just covered everyone’s moves and tried to stay on the inside. I felt horrible in the prelim. It was a goal of mine to do well here in Europe. I didn’t want to leave my family [Husband Alan, the 2004 Olympic men’s marathon Trials champion, and 21-month-old son Cruz], come all the way here, and not do well. The support of the people on the team – especially my roommate Carrie Tollefson, Mary Jayne Harrelson and Jenelle Deatherage – they truly carried me through the last 24 hours. I started to get really down. I talked to Alan and Cruz yesterday. But my teammates and staff really supported me.”

Jen Toomey, women’s 800m (1:59.64, 4th) – “I know I have more in the tank. I got a little boxed in, but c’est la vie. I just couldn’t get out [from the inside rail]. I thought it would go that way, I just got more boxed in than I expected. That’s the name of the game here. But I’m really happy with PR’ing by a lot.”

Jimmie Hackley, men’s 200m (21.53, 5th) – “I tried to readjust my block starts. Since the USA Championships, I haven’t been able to find the start I had. I’ve run five 200s in the span of a week – what can you expect.”

Godfrey Herring, men’s 4x400m relay: “I got out nice, turned back, looked for the baton, and watched it all the way in. I reached and grabbed it, but I didn’t seal it. I looked forward, then back, and it was bobbling on my shoulder. I couldn’t get a hold of it, then Joe let go as he fell.”