Women's discus competition returns to Drake Relays
Olympic
gold medalist Stephanie Brown Trafton, American record holder Suzy
Powell-Roos and 2008 Olympic Trials winner Aretha Hill will headline
the field as the women's discus returns to the Drake Relays this year
for the first time since 1988.
The second event of the 2009 USA
Track & Field Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the 100th Drake
Relays will be televised April 26 from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. Eastern Time on
ESPN2.
"This is a field that we've never seen the likes of at
Drake," said Relays director Brian Brown. "It is a U.S. high
performance event in which our fans will see outstanding competition."
Brown
has installed new stands along the northwest Drake Stadium throwing
area to accommodate spectators for the event, which will be held at
2:30 p.m. during the Saturday (April 25) session of the Drake Relays.
On
her first attempt in the Olympic final in Beijing, Brown Trafton threw
the discus 64.74 meters/212 feet 5 inches, less than five feet off her
personal best. During the remainder of the competition the other
competitors tried and failed to better Brown Trafton's first attempt,
but by the time she entered the ring for her final throw, the gold
medal was hers. It was the United States' first gold medal in the
women's discus since Lillian Copeland in 1932, and the first medal of
any kind since Leslie Jean Deniz won silver in the boycott-afflicted
1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Powell-Roos,
who competed in the 1996, 2000 and 2008 Olympics, set the existing
American record of 67.67m/222 feet at the 2007 Maui "Big Wind" Discus
Challenge to surpass the 21-year-old U.S. women's record of
66.10m/216-10 set by Carol Cady in 1986. A six-time USA runner-up
(1997, 2000-03, 2006), Powell-Roos claimed her first U.S. title at the
2007 USA Outdoor Championships.
Hill, who owns a personal
best of 65.87m/216-1 in 2004, also is a three-time Olympian, competing
in 1996 and 2004, while placing 10th at the 2008 Olympics at
59.80m/196-2. She was ranked #6 in the world in 2006, #7 in 2004, #8
in 2003 and #10 in 2002. Hill has been among the top and most
consistent American throwers for the last 10 years, winning the U.S.
Outdoor Championships in 2003, 2004 and 2006.
As a senior at
Washington, Hill set a then American collegiate record of 65.60m/215-3
in 1998, and won a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games.
The
field also includes Becky Breisch, who won the 2005 U.S. Outdoor
Championship, while winning the 2003 NCAA Outdoor shot put title and
2004 NCAA discus crown at Nebraska. Breisch, who was fourth in the 2008
U.S. Olympic Trials, owns a personal best of 67.38m/221-1 set in 2007.
For more information on the 2009 USATF Outdoor Visa Championship Series, visit:www.usatf.org.
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.
