Preview

by the Armory staff

*More than 5,000 athletes from over 200 schools in eight states will compete in the 10th Annual New Balance Games at the New Balance Track & Field Center at the Armory on West 168th Street on Saturday (Jan. 22). The meet will start at 9 a.m. The featured section of the meet will begin at 1:30 p.m.

*The winners of the sixth annual New Balance Marty Glickman Award, named for the late, legendary radio and TV sports announcer, are Woodrow Wilson High School of Camden, New Jersey, which finished first, and Suffern High School of Suffern, NY, which came in second place. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in academics, team spirit and community service.

*The Elite Women’s Mile will feature the return to the Armory of Carmen Douma-Hussar of Canada. Carmen, who represents the New Balance Track Club, won the Millrose Games Mile last year and took the bronze medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. Her competitors will include Hilary Edmondson of Canada, a Wisconsin graduate who finished fourth in the Mile at the 2004 NCAA Championships and is ranked No. 10 in the world. She finished fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and fifth at the Canadian Olympic Trials. The field also includes Canada’s Lisa Labreque, a Michigan graduate (2001) who was Big 10 champion in the 800 Meters, and Russia’s Yelena Kanales, who finished sixth at the Russian Indoor National Championships last year at 1500 Meters.

 *The field for the Elite Women’s 400 Meters includes Ronetta Smith (Jamaica), a bronze medalist in the 4x400 Meter Relay at the 2004 Olympics who currently resides in Louisiana; Nicole Leach of West Philadelphia High School (PA), the 2004 National Scholastic Indoor champion at 52.19, who will be going to UCLA, and Ieza Zunda of Latvia, a 2004 Olympian in the 400 Meter Hurdles.

 *The Girls 800 Meter Relay will be led by Middle College of Medgar Evers (Brooklyn), which leads the nation with a 1:40.97 time, but will be shooting for the meet record of 1:38.20, set by Eleanor Roosevelt (MD) in 2002. Two schools that could pull off an upset are Hempstead (NY) and Harry S. Truman (Bronx).

 *The Girls Mile, an automatic Millrose Games qualifier, includes three outstanding competitors in Brittany Sedberry of Ocean City (NJ), Alison Smith of Atholton (Columbia, MD) and Danielle Turo of Southern Regional (Manahawkin, NJ). Don’t count out Emily Standridge of Bethlehem ((Delmar, NY), Kimberly Standridge of Randolph (NJ), and Lisa Burkholder of Cherokee (Malton, NJ). They will all be after the meet record of 4:53.7, set by Heather Iaturo of Tri-Valley (NY).

 *In the Girls Pole Vault, national record holder Mary Saxer of Lancaster (NY), who set the mark at 14’ at this year’s Dartmouth Relays, will take on Tiffany Maskulinski of Iroquois (Elma, NY). Saxer is the first female high school vaulter to clear 14’.

 *The Elite Men’s Mile will see the return of defending champion Elkanah Angwenyi of Kenya and the charismatic James Thie of Wales, who won in 2003.

Thie finished fourth at the World Indoor Championships in 2004 and took second place in the Mile at the 2004 Millrose Games. Also contending will be Adrian Blincoe of New Zealand, a graduate of Villanova and 2004 Olympian.

 *The Elite Men’s 400 Meters will feature Sanjay Ayre (Jamaica), a 2004 gold medalist in the 4x400 Meter Relay at the World Indoor Championships who attended Auburn; James Davis, a 2003 gold medalist for the U.S. at the World Indoor Championships in the 4x400 Meter Relay who attended the University of Colorado, and Ashton Collins, a 2003 Pan American Games junior gold medalist in the 4x100 and 4x400 Meter Relays who resides in Virginia. Also running will be Americans Joe Mendel, Tyrone Ross and Godfrey Herring.

 *The Boys 800 Meter Relay should be outstanding with five of the top six teams in the country set to compete. Simon Gratz (Philadelphia, PA) leads the nation with a 1:27.96 win at the Citibank Hispanic Games. They will be pushed by Herbert Lehman (Bronx), Camden (NJ), Vineland (NJ) and Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn). Camden set the meet record at 1:28.09 last year.

 *The winner of the Boys Mile gets an automatic qualifier for the Millrose Games Mile. Mark Russell of Lockport (NY) was the runner-up at the Citibank Hispanic Games, but will be pushed by John Martinez and Carlos Jamieson, both of North Rockland (NY). Martinez finished 14th at the National Foot Locker Cross Country Championships and Jamieson has run a 9:12 two-mile. Geary Gubbins of Southampton (NY) and Brian Schmidt of Kellenberg (Uniondale, NY), battled it out at the Brown Invitational with Gubbins, who won the 3200 Meters at the Bishop Loughlin Games, coming out on top. Other contenders include Ryan Sheridan of Walt Whitman (Huntington Station, NY), Sean Tully of Syosset (NY) and Rob Novack of Bordentown Regional (NJ). They are all after the meet record of 4:11.35, set by Gavin Cooms of Griswod (CT) in 2004.