Contact: Melissa Beasley
Communications Coordinator, USATF
In Santiago, via email: mbeasley@usatf.org
http://www.usatf.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 19

TEAM USA'S EDWARDS ROLLS IN 200 METERS
Vincent fifth in high jump; Chakouian fifth in shot put

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Monzavous "Rae" Edwards advanced to the semifinals of the 200 meters on Friday and two Team USA field event athletes finished fifth in their finals on Thursday to highlight Team USA's performance at the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships.

Edwards (Bevill St. CC (Ala.)), who has the fastest junior time in the world this year in the 200, qualified for the semifinals of the 200 with a third-place finish (21.34) in his second-round heat. Edwards won his morning qualifier in 21.08.

Matt Vincent (University of Florida) finished fifth in the finals of the men's high jump with a clearance of 2.18 meters (7 feet, 1.75 inches), just off his personal best of 7-2. Alfred Neale (Barton CC (Kan.)) finished tied for seventh with a jump of 2.10m/6-10.75. South Africa's Jacques Freitag won the gold (2.24m/7-4.25) while Jamaica's Jermaine Mason (2.24m/7-4.25) and Poland's Tomasz Smialek (2.21m/7-3) won the silver and bronze, respectively.

Jeff Chakouian (Seekonk Warriors (Mass.)) finish fifth in the finals of the men's shot put with a personal-best throw of 18.89m/61-11.75. The Netherlands' Rutger Smith won the gold (19.48m/63-10.75), Russia's Ivan Yushikov was second (19.06m/62-6.50) and Poland's Tomasz Chrzanowski was third(19.00m/62.4).

In other finals, high schooler Briona Reynolds (Red River HS (N.D.)) finished ninth in the women's discus throw (47.88m/157-1), behind first-place finisher Seema Antil of India (55.27m/181-4), China's Shaoyang Xu in second (54.41m/178-6) and Germany's Jana Tucholke (53.97m/177-0.75) in third.

In Thursday's preliminary rounds, Hyleas Fountain (Barton CC (Kan.)) was 13th in her qualifying group of the women's high jump and did not advance with her jump of 1.75 meters/5-8.75. The 2000 U.S. Junior javelin runner-up, Katy Polansky (University of Oregon), was ninth-best in her qualifying group and did not advance (43.17m/141-7.75).

Randi Smith (Washington State) failed to qualify for the finals of the women's 400-meter hurdles (59.03). Smith, the 2000 U.S. Junior 400-meter hurdles runner-up, missed the finals by just .68 seconds.

Khalilah Carpenter (Col. Brookhaven HS (Ohio)) was seventh in her heat of the women's 200 in 25.02 and fellow high-schooler Ashlee Williams (Bishop Dunne HS (Texas)) was seventh in her heat as well in 24.62, but neither athlete advanced to the semifinals. In first-round action in the morning, Carpenter finished third in her heat (24.55) and Williams finished fifth in her heat with a time of 24.68

Garland Martin (Wallace St. CC (Ala.)) stumbled over the third and fourth hurdles of the 110 hurdles semifinals and did not finish. Joe Ward (University of Arkansas) was the 13th qualifier in the men's triple jump, missing the cut for the finals by one place with his best of 15.79m/51-9.75.

TEAM USA QUOTES - Thursday, October 19, 2000

Men's High Jump Final

Matt Vincent, Florida: "It was definitely the best competition that I've been up against. I'm disappointed a little bit in my placing, but not in the way I jumped. It was a good experience overall."

Men's Shot Put Qualifying

Jeff Chakouian, Seekonk Warriors (Mass.): On the advantage of having qualifying and finals in the same day: "There would just too many nerves going on to have to wait another day. I'm glad that I'm able to get everything done in one day."

Dan Ames, UCLA: "I've been training really hard, but not aggressively enough. My technique has gotten very, very good lately and I figured that would carry over into the meet. Not having any meets beforehand made it tough to train very intensively, but I figured once I got here, I'd be able to turn it on through the technique that I've developed, but it didn't work out like that."

Men's 200 Meters Qualifying

Monzavous "Rae" Edwards, Bevill St. (Ala.): On dealing with other athletes false-starting in his race: "Usually it throws me off, but at the same time, it gives me confidence knowing that my opponents feel like they need that extra burst to try and compete with me. If you have a false start, that means that you don't have faith in yourself."

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