World Junior Championship Medallists and NCAA Champions Highlight 28th Annual Meet
16 June 1999 – Denton, Texas – America’s best young track and field athletes will be in North Texas June 19-20 for the 28th Annual USA Track & Field Junior National Championships. More than 600 of the nation’s top 19-and-under runners, walkers, jumpers and throwers will battle for bragging rights at Fouts Field on the University of North Texas campus, including World Junior Championships medallists Angela Williams and Nakiya Johnson.
Athletes will also be competing for spots on the U.S. team for the Pan American Junior Championships, scheduled for next month in Florida. The top two finishers in each event will select themselves to the Pan Am squad.
"We are excited to be in Texas," said USATF junior program manager Cathy Sellers. "The Metroplex is a hotbed for track and field, and this meet will give local fans a chance to see the best high schoolers and young collegians go against each other. Fouts Field is a great facility for us, and the University of North Texas has stepped up and done a wonderful job preparing for the meet."
UNT head coach Rick Watkins will serve as meet director for the event, which will also
be held here in 2000.
Here’s a look at some of the notable entries:
Angela Williams, 100 metres. Williams was a silver medallist in the 100 and a gold
medallist in the 4x100 at last summer’s World Junior Championships, and her freshman
year at Southern Cal has brought even more honours. She won the NCAA dash title in Boise
earlier this month, setting an American Junior record of 11.04 in the process. The
Californian then set a national high school record of 11.11 at the ‘98 Junior meet in
Edwardsville.
Nakiya Johnson, 400 metres. Johnson, who just completed a storied California prep
career, was the silver medallist in the 400 at the World Junior Championships in ‘98.
Eight other ‘98 World Junior team members are also entered: Texas A&M high
jumper Robyn Burkhardt; California high school 800 champ Lindsay Hyatt; University of
Delaware race walker Lisa Kutzing; Southern Cal shot putter Van Mounts; UCLA pole vaulter
Tracy O’Hara; Texas A&M heptathlete Kendra Reimer; Stanford half-miler Jon
Stevens; and Philadelphia intermediate hurdler Jamillah Wade.
Eric Eshbach, pole vault, from Orangefield, Texas. He set a national high school record
with his 18-2.25 clearance at the Texas State Meet last month.
Bayano Kamani, a Baylor sophomore, who romped to NCAA gold in the 400 metre hurdles at
Boise, clocking the second-fastest time in U.S. junior history at 48.68.
Competition begins Saturday at 8 a.m. with the men’s 10-kilometer race walk final. The bulk of the running event prelims start at 5:15 p.m., with the 100 metre finals at 8:40 p.m. Nine field event finals will be contested Saturday.
