Just Two Inches Shy of Olympic Trials Standard: HS DISCUS LEADER BRUCKNER FACES OLYMPIC CHAMP BROWN TRAFTON SUNDAY AT CAL IN QUEST OF MARK

USATF PACIFIC ASSOCIATION



For Immediate Release

Contact: Fred Baer

frdbaer@aol.com mobile/txt: 650.483.3733

Just Two Inches Shy of Olympic Trials Standard:

HS DISCUS LEADER BRUCKNER FACES OLYMPIC CHAMP BROWN TRAFTON SUNDAY AT CAL IN QUEST OF MARK

U.S. high school discus leader Elena Bruckner is scheduled to face 2008 Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton on Sunday (June 19) in Berkeley in the final Bay Area track and field competition before the U.S. Olympic Trials.



The USATF West Region Open Championship meet at University of California’s Edwards Field at 9 a.m. will provide a final Olympic Trials qualifying opportunity for several athletes and also serve as USATF’s Pacific Association Track & Field Championships (for the Northern California and Northern Nevada region).

It will be the last local competition for the just graduated Valley Christian (San Jose) senior, who needs to add two inches to her best mark of 186 feet, 10 inches in order to meet the standard of 187-0 for the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., July 1-10.

Sunday’s discus throw competitions start at 2 p.m. with the men’s event (which has a small field) – followed by the women’s competition less than an hour later.

--Bruckner is the No. 4 all-time high school discus thrower with her 2016 pacesetting mark of 186-10.

--Brown Trafton won the discus gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and later set an American Record of 222-3 in 2012. She has returned to full-time competition after giving birth to a baby (Juliana) in 2013 and has a best mark so far this season of 207-0 – second best American in 2016. Bruckner ranks No. 22.

Bruckner is also the two-time California (CIF) state champion in the shot put, where she ranks No. 3 nationally this year at 54-7 (just seven inches shy of the season U.S. lead). She is also entered in that event Sunday at approximately 12:30 p.m. (The Olympic Trials shot put standard is 57-9.)

Schedule: 9 a.m., men’s and women’s 10,000 meters, followed by 3,000 meter steeplechase; 11 a.m. 5,000 meter race walk; 11:30 a.m. women’s 1,500 meter run, followed by a rolling schedule of all running events -- ending at approximately 3:30 p.m. Field events begin at 10 a.m. with the women’s long jump.