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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

USATF: 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Champs mark phenomenal successes

Posted July 6th, 2007 at 3:20 PM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

The 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track& Field Championships last month in Indianapolis were among the most successful in recent history.

The excitement of close finishes in the middle-distances, a packed house that provided loud encouragement to the athletes, and the fastest 100-200 double in history by Tyson Gay tell a compelling story. Television ratings, Website traffic and merchandise sales all saw significant rises over 2006. These were just a few of countless highlights.

In hard numbers, the meet measures up impressively:

0 - Number of stadium evacuations due to weather.

1 - The number of American records set (Breaux Greer, men’s javelin, 91.29m/299-6).

2 - Number of Visa Champions crowned (Tyson Gay and Tiffany Williams)

4 - Number of national television broadcasts of the meet (2 on NBC, 2 on ESPN2). NBC’s live coverage from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, won its time slot and was the #2 sports program of the day on network television. In aggregate, TV ratings for the meet saw a 144 percent increase over 2006.
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AT&T USA Outdoor T&F Champs: Saturday event previews

Posted June 23rd, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

HEPTATHLON, Day Two

Key Athletes: GiGi Johnson, Hyleas Fountain, Diana Pickler, Jacquelyn Johnson

The past two USATF champions are in the field with GiGi Johnson (2006) and Fountain (2005), but it is US list leader Pickler who topped the standings with 3,636 points after the first day. Fountain is 18 points adrift, with Johnson two more behind her. NCAA champ Johnson is fifth at 3,495.

DECATHLON, Day Two

Key Athletes: Tom Pappas, Paul Terek, Jake Arnold

Four-time U.S. winner Pappas, who leads with 4,394 points, is the defending champion and could tie Bill Toomey and Dan O’Brien for most U.S. titles in the event after the withdrawal of ‘05 world champion Bryan Clay. Arnold recently claimed his second NCAA title, scoring 8,215 for the victory, and is sxth after five events. Terek scored 8,134 to win at Desenzano on May 6 and is seeking his third Worlds team berth.
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Wisconsin, Arizona St earn first NCAA D-I indoor titles

Posted March 12th, 2007 at 9:06 AM by Bob Ramsak

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Wisconsin senior Chris Solinsky added the 5000m title to his admirable collection, but was out-sprinted in the 3000m by rising star Lopez Lomong of Northern Arizona (SUD) 7:49.74 to 7:51.69, career bests for both.

NCAA cross country champion Sally Kipyego had a relatively easy time with her 3000/5000 titles, the former over Duke’s Shannon Rowbury the winner in the mile. Brittany Riley of Sothern Illinois broke her own world record in the weight throw with a mark of 83-10.25 and Natasha Hastings of South Carolina set a new collegiate record in 400m with a time of 50.80 seconds.

Their team victories marked the first indoor titles for both the Wisconsin men and ASU women. Ed Nuttycombe, the head coach of the Wisconsin men’s track team, stated:

“It proves if you coach long enough anyone can win one. We’ve finished in the top 10 and four a few times, and we finally got over the hump. We tried to optimize as many opportunities as we could, and we did that. There was not anybody that didn’t get the job done.”

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