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News18 Oct 2001


Team USA has a golden day in Argentina

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Team USA has a golden day in Argentina
USATF

19 October 2001 - Bouncing back from nearly 20 hours of travel earlier in the week, seven Team USA athletes combined for two gold and one bronze medal Thursday in the first day of competition at the Junior Pan-American Championships in Sante Fe, Argentina.

Jeff Chakouian (University of Kentucky) annihilated the competition and set a Junior Pan-American record with a winning mark of 19.92 metres in his final throw to win the shot put. Three-time world champion John Godina held the previous record of 17.73m, which Chakouian bettered in each of his five throws of the day. Chakouian will compete on Saturday in the discus throw.

In the first competition of the day for a Team USA member, Melissa Bickett (University of Michigan) set the tone with a gold-medal performance in the women’s discus. Bickett’s winning throw of 49.36m was over 3 metres better than the second-place mark of 46.06m. Bickett recorded four of her six throws over 48.00m.

Allen Simms (George Mason University) won bronze in the men’s long jump (7.56m). Simms will compete in the men’s triple jump on Saturday. Also in the men’s long jump, high schooler Tony Allmond (Sante Fe Springs, Calif.) finished ninth with a mark of 6.84m.

Megan Schuelke, a high schooler from Memorial, Texas, finished fifth in the women’s high jump competition (1.74m). In the men’s pole vault, high schooler Matt Campbell (White River Valley, Ind.) and Kevin Dare (Penn State) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Campbell cleared 5.00m, while Dare cleared 4.90m.

Competition continues on Friday with the women’s javelin throw (Katy Polansky), long jump (April Holliness-Mathis), shot put (Jillian Camarena) and the men’s high jump (Jason Hill & Keith Moffat).

This is the 12th Junior Pan-American Championships, with competitions dating back to 1980. Athletes from 45 countries across North, South and Central America are competing in Sante Fe.

For complete results from Argentina, visit the official meet web site at www.cada-atletismo.org.

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