Posted: October 8, 2004

Athletics: Tufts Health Plan 10K to host USA Women's 10 km Championships

Many of America's finest long distance runners will compete Monday at the 2004 USA Women's 10 km Championships in Boston. For the tenth time in the last eleven years the Tufts Health Plan 10K will play host to the championships. This year's event features U.S. stars Jenny Crain, Marie Davenport, Cheri Kenah, Collette Liss, Katherine Newberry and Brianna Shook among others.

Crain returns to Boston as a favorite to win after placing third there in 2003. Earlier this year she placed third at the 2004 USA 20 km Championships and seventh at the 2004 USA 5 km Championships.

The winner of the 2003 and 2004 CVS Pharmacy Downtown 5K, Marie Davenport should provide a strong challenge after winning the 2003 BAA Half Marathon. Also look for 2003 U.S. 4 km Cross Country runner-up Collette Liss to be in the mix, along with veteran Cheri Kenah, who gave birth to twins in 2003, and 2003 USA Outdoor-steeplechase champion Briana Shook. Katherine Newberry should also pose a threat after placing 25th in the long course race at the 2004 World Cross Country Championships.

The Masters competition will be headlined by 1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist and two-time Boston Marathon winner Joan Benoit Samuelson.

For more information on the 2004 USA Women's 10 km Championships, visit USATF.org.

Boston Marathon legend Johnny Kelley dies

Johnny Kelley, an Olympian and two-time winner of the Boston Marathon died Wednesday night at a Cape Cod nursing home. He was 97.

A member of the National Track & Field Hall of Fame, in addition to being an inductee of the National Distance Running and Road Runners of America halls of fame, Kelley was a competitor in the Boston Marathon a record 61 times, completing the race on 58 occasions. His 18 top ten finishes were highlighted by wins in 1935 and 1945. He finished as the runner-up a record seven times.

Kelley placed 18th in the marathon at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. He qualified for the U.S. Olympic team again in 1940, but the games did not take place due to World War II.

A beloved figure in Boston, Kelley's likeness appears on the statue "Young at Heart" that was dedicated in 1993 along the Boston Marathon course at the base of the third hill in Newton, Mass. The statue depicts Kelley winning the1935 Boston Marathon joined with an older Kelley finishing the race in 1991 at age 83.

Runner's World magazine named Kelley its "Runner of the Century" for his numerous contributions to the sport of running and the countless athletes he inspired.

Olympic gold medalist McDaniel Singleton dies

Olympic gold medalist and National Track & Field Hall of Famer Mildred McDaniel Singleton died of cancer Thursday in Pasadena, California. She was 70.

One of the world's top female athletes of the 1950s, McDaniel Singleton won the women's high jump gold medal at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. She set a world record with her winning clearance of 1.76 meters/5 feet, 9.25 inches.

A three-time U.S. Outdoor high jump champion (1953, 1955, 1956), McDaniel Singleton also won U.S. Indoor crowns in 1955 and 1956. She also won the gold medal at the 1955 Pan American Games.

A National Track and Field Hall of Fame inductee in 1983, McDaniel Singleton is also enshrined in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame and the Helms Hall of Fame in Los Angeles.

Following her athletic career McDaniel Singleton taught Physical Education for 32 years before retiring in 1993. She will be buried Wednesday at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, Calif.