USATF Championships, Ohio connections

I'll be taking off for Indy fairly early tomorrow, and without internet access there will be no updates until Monday. And that one will be a doozy.

From the top of my head, here are the athletes in the open (senior) championships with Ohio connections. I'll cheer for each and every one of them.

Men's 100 meters
Kendall Stevens, Lima Senior HS / Univ. of Findlay; 2006 NCAA D-II champ. May or may not compete, as he's recently been indicted for carrying a concealed weapon and obstruction of justice in connection with a June 6th murder. Poor guy, you can take the kid out of Lima but you can't take Lima out of the kid.

Kenneth Wade, Toledo Rogers HS / Univ. of Cincinatti. Just about the last guy in, but still a great accomplishment for someone who never was a big star in high school. One of my two co-Superfans was Wade's high school coach.

Men's 200 meters
LeShaunte Edwards, Cleveland Rhodes HS / Univ. of Akron. Status is "pending", so he might not get in. One of the best MAC sprinters since Thomas Jefferson, it appears his best days are now behind him.

Stevens' status in the 200 meters is pending as well.

Men's 800 meters
Michael Inge, Elyria HS / Kent State Univ. The 2003 USATF junior champ at 800 meters has so far not lived up to his age-group championship hype. Redshirted the indoor & outdoor seasons at KSU; has one year of eligibilty left.

Men's 1500 meters
Rob Myers, Lancaster Fairfield Union HS / Ohio State Univ. With Bernard Lagat in the field, you can't really say Myers is one of the favorites, since no one is going to beat Lagat. But Myers is as good as or better than anyone else.

Ofer Barniv, Kent Roosevelt HS / Kent State Univ. Status is pending, and would have the slowest qualifying mark.

Men's Steeplechase
Brian Olinger, West Lafayette Ridgewood HS / Ohio State Univ. Has shown flashes of brilliance but raced like crap at the NCAA two weeks ago. Probably won't beat Lincoln or Slattery but there's no reason he shouldn't beat everyone else.

Robert Gary, Ohio Stat Univ. Getting long in the tooth but should still scare the crap out of Olinger.

Dan Huling, Miami Univ. It would be a huge accomplishment just to make the final for this recent NCAA All-American.

Men's 110m hurdles
Joel Brown, Ohio State Univ. The gap between the "big three" (Allen Johnson, Dominique Arnold, Terrence Trammell) and everyone else should be big enough to drive a truck through it. Brown is every bit as good as everyone else.

David Payne, Univ. of Cincinnati. Usually finds his way to the finals in these things.

Ryan Wilson, Westerville South HS. Could make the semis, will probably not make the finals.

Brandon Hon, Cincinnati Walnut Hills HS / Univ. of Cincinnati. The only athlete even attempting both hurdle events.

Men's 400m hurdles
Hon's status is pending.

Men's Pole Vault
Tim Mack, Cleveland St. Ignatius HS / Malone Coll. Can the Athens gold medalist regain the USATF title?

Men's Long Jump
Joe Allen, Toledo Rogers HS. Joe is not considered a threat in this competition, but did get second at the USATF indoor this year ahead of Bashir Ramzy. Anything can happen! Was also coached by one of my fellow Superfans.

Nathan Mayle, Ohio Univ. Status is pending. If he makes it in, he might be the only athlete competing who will also play D-IA football this fall.

Men's Triple Jump
Allen is pending in this event; he might get in on the strength of his third-place finish at this year's USATF indoor.

Men's Shot Put
Dan Taylor, Burton Berkshire HS / Ohio State Univ. Taylor is just on the edge of being one of the elites, and should push at least one of the three international stars in the lineup.

Bryan Vickers, Circleville HS / Ashland Univ. Not to be confused with the NASCAR driver.

Men's Javelin Throw
John Hetzendorf, Kent State. Ranked #3 in the US last year, he should make the finals and be near the top. But this event is very unpredictable.

Women's 100 meters
LaShauntea Moore, Ak. Hoban & Fireston HS / Univ. of Akron. Better at the 200.

Women's 200 meters
Moore won an NCAA title at Arkansas in 2004. Her qualifying time is decptive; she got it running into a stiff headwind while winning the Reebok Grand Prix. I'll be surprised if she's not in the final.

Women's 400 meters
Moushami Robinson, Columbus Brookhaven HS. No one is going to beat Sanya Richards, but Robinson should make yet another USA 4x400 team with a top-4 finish.

Mary Danner, Cincinnati Walnut Hills HS / Univ . of Cincinnati. A likely finalist; she was ranked #7 in the US last year and was the USATF indoor runner-up this year.

Women's 800 meters
Kameisha Bennett, Dayt. Meadowdale HS. Listed as qualified but "open", so it looks like she's skipping this meet.

Women's 5000 meters
Michelle Sikes, Lakewood HS. Status is pending.

Women's 10,000 meters
Angela Homan, Spencerville HS. Won't win, but will be in the thick of it with everyone else. Just used up her eligibility at Auburn and went out a winner on their NCAA champion team.

Tara Storage, Beavercreek HS / Univ. of Dayton. Disappeared for a few years; apparently is still inseperable from twin Kara as both work and run at Wright-Patterson Air Force base.

Women's Long Jump
Tianna Madison, Elyria HS. The World champion.

Women's Shot Put
Adriane Blewitt, Ashland Univ. Recently named to the NCAA D-II Women's Silver Anniversary all-star team.

Women's Discus Throw
Beth Mallory, Ashland HS. A certain finalist.

Blewitt is also entered.

Melissa Bickett, Richfield Revere HS. Just made it in.

Women's Hammer Throw
Keturah Lofton, Zanesville HS / Ohio State Univ. The recent OSU grad won the Big Ten this year.

Women's Javelin Throw
Kim Kreiner, Mogadore HS / Kent State Univ. The defending champ is ten feet better than the field.