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Olympic athletes including Maurice
Greene and Marion Jones entertained the crowd of 50,000 all day
Saturday, but the most stunning moment of all came in the women's
4x200 event of USA vs. the World. Jamaica was 10 feet from doubling
over the USA women when Jamaican anchor Tayna Lawrence suddenly
fell to the ground as USA "Blue" anchor Kelli White streaked
by to win.
USATF press release
Contact: Jill M. Geer
Director of Communications
317-261-0500 x360
[email protected]
http://www.usatf.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, April 27, 2002
Athletes thrill record crowd at USA vs. The World
PHILADELPHIA – On a picture-perfect April afternoon, some
of the best
athletes in the world gave a Penn Relays record crowd all the excitement
and
drama it has come to expect from the USA vs. The World events. And
then
some.
Team USA won five of the six relays contested at USA vs. The World,
which
included teams from Jamaica, Canada, Poland, Russia, Germany and
Guyana.
Olympic silver medalist Beverly McDonald had promised Jamaican
victory in
the women’s sprint relays, and she and her teammates were well
on their way
to fulfilling that prophecy. Tayna Lawrence, Merlene Frazer, McDonald
and
Juliet Campbell easily defeated the Team USA lineup of Torri Edwards,
Kelli
White, Inger Miller and Chryste Gaines in the Nike women’s
4x100m, running
42.96 to 43.27.
One hour later, the teams took to the track again for the Verizon
women’s
4x200m relay. Team USA “Blue” led through the first two
legs of Gaines and
Miller, but Anneisha McLaughlin opened up a lead for Jamaica on
the third
leg over Edwards. When Kelli White took the baton, she trailed Lawrence
by
well more than a meter. Lawrence held the lead until inches from
the finish,
when she fell to the track, just over a hand’s reach from victory.
White
sprinted through the finish to a win in 1:30.87. The USA Red team
of Sadonna
Thornton, Candace Young, LaTasha Jenkins and Debbie Dunn, was second
in
1:32.52, with Jamaica third in 1:33.05. Canada and Russia were fourth
and
fifth, respectively.
“I just thought, oh my gosh,” said White of Lawrence’s
fall. “I ended up
having to jump over her arm.”
“This is a good rivalry,” said Gaines, noting that at
USA vs. The World in
2001 the results were reversed, with Jamaica winning the 4x200 and
Team USA
winning the 4x100. “It seems like they’re the home team,
with so many
Jamaicans in the crowd.”
The Verizon men’s 4x100m relay provided nearly as much surprise
– at least
to some – when the USA Blue team of Mickey Grimes, Bernard
Williams, Coby
Miller and Tim Montgomery soundly defeated the USA Red team of Jon
Drummond,
Tim Harden, Terrence Trammell and Maurice Greene. Blazing legs by
Williams
and Miller put Montgomery well in the lead when he and Greene got
the baton.
Montgomery crossed the line for USA Blue in 38.38, with Greene and
USA Red
at 38.75. Jamaica was third at 39.51, followed by Poland, Canada
and Guyana.
The race was a highly anticipated showdown between Greene, the
Olympic and
World 100m champion and world record holder, and Montgomery, the
world 100m
silver medalist who owns the fastest time in the world this year
(9.94). The
two sprinters are rapidly developing one of the most ballyhooed
verbal
rivalries in the sport.
“Before the race, Maurice came over and gave me his vision
of what the race
was going to be,” said Montgomery. “And I gave my vision.
My vision turned
out to be the correct one today.”
When asked about how the race unfolded, Greene said he saw “Tim
in front of
me. He took off before I did. We can’t afford to give each
other anything,
or the other one is going to win.”
In the Nike men’s 4x200m relay, Ramon Clay led off, with Williams
on the
second leg for USA Blue. Trammell’s third leg that gave Greene
an
insurmountable lead, with Greene, the 1999 World champion at 200m,
cruising
in for a win in 1:20.68.
“Just watching my teammates and being part of this is one
of the greatest
moments I’ve had in track and field,” said Trammell, the
2000 Olympic silver
medalist in the 110m hurdles and the 2001 World Indoor champion
in the 60m
hurdles. “I really wanted to do my part.”
The USA Red team of Miller, Kaaron Conwright, Mickey Grimes and
Garfield
Ellenwood was second in 1:21.85. Jamaica was third in 1:22.17, Canada
was
fourth and Germany fifth.
The SoBe men’s 4x400m relay and Visa women’s 4x400m relay
were studies in
opposites. The men’s race was an old-fashioned barn-burner,
with Jamaica and
USA Red in a dead heat at the third handoff. Olympic 400m hurdles
champion
Angelo Taylor, who anchored Team USA to gold at the 2001 World
Championships, pulled away from Jamiaca’s Michael Blackwood
to give the
Americans the win. Team USA Red (Leonard Byrd, Antonio Pettigrew,
Derrick
Brew and Taylor) finished in 3:00.79. The Jamaican team of Michael
McDonald,
Davian Clarke, Ian Weakley and Blackwood was second in 3:00.94 and
USA Blue
(James Carter, Andrew Pierce, Jerome Davis and Brandon Couts) was
third in
3:02.33. They were followed by Canada, Poland and Guyana.
“I didn’t feel (Blackwood) at all,” Taylor said
of the relatively close
finish. “I just wanted to get out and run a good race. I knew
I just had to
stay relaxed.”
The women’s 4x400 race, meanwhile, was an old-fashioned rout
and provided
the USA vs. The World finale. Michelle Collins established a huge
lead for
Team USA Red in the first leg, and Jearl Miles Clark and LaTasha
Colander
Richardson only extended that lead. That made Marion Jones’
job easy, as she
came home in 3:23.41. Team USA Blue, with Debbie Dunn, LaTasha Jenkins,
Sasha Spencer and Nicole Teter, was second in 3:28.89. Jamaica was
third in
3:29.04, with Russia fourth and Canada fifth.
“This felt very good,” said Miles-Clark, a two-time Olympic
gold medalist in
the relay. “It’s always nice to be on your home turf to
beat the Jamaicans
and Russians. This is just electrifying here. If you’re watching
the other
races and listing to the crowd, you can’t help but get excited.”
The record crowd of 50,827 made its appreciation for the heated
competition
well-known. With a record Friday crowd of 39,104 and a Thursday
audience of
22,346, the Penn Relays set an all-time, three-day attendance record
of
112,277. It was the third consecutive year for a Penn attendance
record; USA
vs. the World also is in its third year at the meet.
Athletes lauded the USA vs. the World event, held since 2000 as
a special
event within the Penn Relays and presented by Verizon on national
television, with Nike providing substantial support for the event
and SoBe
Sports System also serving as a key event sponsor.
“The great thing about USA vs. The World is setting a new
trend in USA Track
and Field,” Drummond said. “When these races are announced,
the crowd goes
crazy. If we can reproduce this at other meets … as long as
it’s USA vs. The
World, it’s going to be the best athletes in the world.”
“These are the types of meets we look forward to in the future,”
Gaines
said. “These are avid track and field fans, and avid track
and field fans
are everywhere.”
“All in all,” added Miller, “this meet is just fun.”
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