Oliver, Jeter, Howard & Torrance lead Team USA

For Immediate Release
Monday, February 2, 2010

Contact:
Tom Surber
USA Track & Field
Media Information Manager
317-713-4690; Tom.Surber@usatf.org


News & Notes, Volume 10, Number 2

Oliver, Jeter, Howard & Torrance lead Team USA to runner-up finish in Glasgow
Hurdler David Oliver, sprinter Carmelita Jeter, high jumper Chaunte Howard , 400m specialist Jamaal Torrance and 1,500m standout Heidi Dahl each won their respective events in leading Team USA to a second place finish Saturday at the 2010 Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Five Nations Match features one athlete in each event from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Germany and a Commonwealth Select team. It is a unique country vs. country indoor format that features athletes from the different nations battling against each other to earn points towards their teams overall match total.

Great Britain & Northern Ireland won the event with 63 points, with Team USA finishing second with 60 points and Germany third with 51 points. The Commonwealth Select squad was fourth with 49 points and Sweden placed fifth with 30 points.

The 2008 Olympic men's 110m hurdles bronze medalist, Oliver had a bad start in the 60m hurdles final, but stormed back to win in 7.58 seconds, which bettered Germany's Helge Schwarzer by a full tenth of a second. Oliver's performance is tied for the second best in the world this year in that event.

Although she hadn't been in Scotland long before the gun went up in her race, Carmelita Jeter, who ended the 2009 season ranked as the world's #1 women's 100m sprinter by Track & Field News, looked to be in mid-season form in easily winning the women's 60m in 7.19 seconds, which is the second-fastest time in the world this year. Bernice Wilson of Great Britain was the distant runner-up, crossing the finish line in 7.37.

A two-time Olympian and silver medalist at the 2005 World Outdoor Championships, Chaunte Howard won the women's high jump with a best clearance of 1.94 meters/6-4.25 inches. Jessica Ennis (GBR) also cleared that height, with Howard declared the winner on fewer misses during the competition.

Jamaal Torrance, a 2008 World Indoor Championships 4x400m relay gold medalist and 2008 Pan American Games finalist, was the victor in the men's 400 meters in a seasonal best time of 47.19 seconds. Torrance, who finished the 2009 season ranked #9 in the U.S. by T&FN, bested runner-up Richard Buck (GBR), who crossed the finish line in 47.26.

2009 USA Outdoor Championships seventh-place finisher Heidi Dahl was victorious in the women's 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 17.96 seconds. The #8 ranked American in the women's 1,500 meters, Dahl finished just ahead of runner-up Lisa Dobriskey of Great Britain, who posted a seasonal best time of 4:18.22.

In other events, reigning world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis of Great Britain set a national record in winning the women's 60m hurdles in 7.95 seconds, which is the fastest time in the world this year. Two-time Indoor Visa Championship Series winner and Team USA captain Lolo Jones was the runner-up in 7.97 seconds.

Other Americans who finished second in Glasgow included 2009 World Outdoor Championships 4x400m relay gold medalist Debbie Dunn, who finished the women's 400m in 53.15 seconds, and 2007 World Outdoor Championships team member Mark Jelks, who was the runner-up in the men's 60m in 6.68 seconds.

For more information on the 2010 Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland, visit: www.iaaf.org.

Eaton sets American collegiate record

University of Oregon senior Ashton Eaton set the men's collegiate heptathlon record Saturday at the Texas A&M Challenge in College Station, Texas.

Eaton, a senior from Bend, Ore., scored 6,256 points to surpass reigning world decathlon champion Trey Hardee's 2006 NCAA mark of 6,208 points set while competing for the University of Texas. Eaton's score is the fifth-best overall by any American heptathlete.

Eaton posted personal bests in the 60 meter hurdles (7.86) and 1,000 meters (2:38.02) to go along with a clearance at 4.96m/16 feet 3.25 inches in the pole vault en route to the new record.

Eaton won his second consecutive NCAA decathlon title in 2009 with his highest ever total of 8,241w points. Later that summer he finished as the runner-up at the USA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, which placed him on the Team USA roster for the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, where he finished 18th.

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

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