Four Niners Competing at USATF Championships Beginning Thursday
June 20, 2006
Indianapolis - The Charlotte 49ers track & field programs will close out a banner 2006 this week with their final meets of the season. All-American sprinters Shareese Woods and Courtney Patterson will be competing at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while Lamarra Currie and Chase Eckard will compete at the 2006 Finish Line USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The meets are being held concurrently at IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium on the campus of IUPUI in Indianapolis.
To run in the USATF Championships, athletes must be U.S. citizens, and as with NCAA competition must post a mark that meets or exceeds the pre-set USATF standards during 2006. Woods is qualified in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes, while Patterson will run in the 100.
For the Junior Championships, athletes must be at least 14 years old on the day of competition, but not turn 20 during 2006. Currie will compete in the junior women's 100-meter dash, with Eckard in the junior men's 800- and 1,500-meter runs.
ESPN2 will broadcast the final two days of the meets, Saturday (6:00-8:00 p.m.) and Sunday (5:00-7:00 p.m.).
Woods and Patterson will be running against some of the world's best sprinters in the USATF Championships, including names that will be familiar to many fans.
CHARLOTTE 49ERS USATF CHAMPIONSHIP AND USATF JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITORS
Courtney Patterson - Women's 100 - Thursday, 6:30 p.m. (Rd. 1), Friday, 6:15 p.m. (Semifinal), Friday, 8:25 p.m. (Final)
Shareese Woods - Women's 100 - Thursday, 6:30 p.m. (Rd. 1), Friday, 6:15 p.m. (Semifinal), Friday, 8:25 p.m. (Final)
Shareese Woods - Women's 200 - Saturday, 5:15 p.m. (Rd. 1), Sunday, 2:20 p.m. (Semifinal), Sunday, 4:30 p.m. (Final)
Lamarra Currie - Junior women's 100 - Thursday, 11:00 a.m. (Rd. 1), 1:50 p.m. (Final)
Chase Eckard - Junior men's 800 - Thursday, 12:40 p.m. (Rd. 1), Friday, 1:25 p.m. (Final)
Chase Eckard - Junior men's 1,500 - Friday, 12:00 p.m. (Rd. 1), Saturday, 2:25 p.m. (Final)
Women's 100-meter dash
The women's 100-meter dash, where both of Charlotte's All-Americans will compete, opens on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The semifinals are Friday at 6:15 p.m., with the finals scheduled for 8:25 p.m. that night. Woods is tied as the 20th-fastest qualifier overall and the sixth-fastest NCAA participant with a seed time of 11.37 seconds. Patterson is close behind at 11.41, putting her 24th overall and seventh among NCAA sprinters.
The field also includes top-class runners like Olympian Marion Jones, 2005 World Outdoor Champion and 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist Lauryn Williams, 2005 USATF 100-meter Champion Me'Lisa Barber, 2005 USATF 200-meter silver medalist LaTasha Colander, and NCAA finals competitor Shalonda Solomon.
Women's 200-meter dash
Woods will also run in the 200-meter dash, the event in which she earned All-America honors two weekends ago with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The opening round goes off at 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, with the semifinals (2:20) and finals (4:30) on Sunday. Woods has a seed time of 23.11, the 20th-fastest overall and fifth-fastest among NCAA competitors.
The 200-meter field includes Marion Jones, Lauryn Williams, Shalonda Solomon (2006 NCAA Champion), 2005 World Outdoor 200 Champion Allyson Felix, 2005 World Outdoor 200 silver medalist Rachelle Boone-Smith, and 2006 World Indoor 400-meter champion Sanya Richards.
Junior Women's 100-meter dash
Currie qualified for the junior women's 100-meter dash championship, which begins with an opening round on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. and concludes with the finals later that day at 1:50 p.m. Currie ran on Charlotte's 4x100-meter relay team at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships two weekends ago, helping that team to a best-ever 13th-place finish on the national level.
She has a seed time of 11.74 seconds, which ranks her 24th in a 29-woman field.
Junior Men's 800-meter run and Junior men's 1,500-meter run
Chase Eckard, the Atlantic 10 Conference Outdoor Rookie of the Year, has qualified in three different events and will contest the 800 and 1,500-meter runs at the Junior Championships. He was also a qualifier in the steeplechase.
The 800-meter opening round is Thursday at 12:40 p.m., with the finals on Friday at 1:25. The 1,500 opening race is Friday at 12:00 p.m., with the finals on Saturday at 2:25 p.m.
In the 800, Eckard has the 17th-fastest time overall at 1:52.70. In the 1,500, he is the No. 9 seed out of 17 runners at 3:53.77.
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