Posted: July 30, 2005

Athletics: Team USA Grabs 11 First-Day Medals At Pan Am Juniors

Windsor, Ontario, Canada -- Shot putters Ryan Whiting and Nathan Englin scored big personal bests and swept the top two medals to break the ice as Team USA won 11 medals, four of them gold, on the opening day of the Pan American Junior Championships Friday at the University of Windsor.

Whiting, a graduate of Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pa., won on his fourth attempt with a throw of 19.75/64-9.75, a PR by one centimeter. Missouri's Englin had his best throw in round five to seal the silver.

"The key today for me was to keep level out of the back and keep my left arm up," Whiting said. "I have been practicing a lot with the 16-pounder, so throwing this one (13.2 pounds) was a bit strange."

Cleo Tyson of Tennessee dashed to the women's 100-meters gold in a slowish 11.52, but her margin of victory told the real story as she won by more than a quarter of a second. "The headwind [-1.8 meters per second] made it really tough to run fast in the final," Tyson said. "But I knew if I kept my focus and didn't let the wind bother me, I would be OK. I had a bad start, but after that I got into my race." South Carolina's Amberly Nesbitt finished fifth behind Tyson at 11.89.

A small field stayed together for the first ten laps of the men's 5000, with Daniel Nunn of Georgetown and Paul Hefferon of Kansas trading places freely in the front four, before Nunn opened up a gap with 800 to go and ran on to a 14:55.17 win ahead of Hefferon, who completed the USA sweep with a silver in 14:56.65.

Nunn said, "I wanted to just stay relaxed and see how the pace went for two miles, and then start going to work with four laps to go. I think my plan worked perfectly, and I felt good enough with two to go that I just made a strong move. I knew I had a chance at the bell, but I didn't know I had it won until there was only 150 left."

Nebraska's Robert Rands moved from third to first in the fifth round of the men's long jump and held on to win with a leap of 7.60/24-11.25, one centimeter better than Jamaica's Jermaine Jackson, who leaped 7.59 in round two. "I was way off the board on my first jumps," Rands said. "I moved up a foot and a half and everything felt right after that. I was feeling a little pressure after Jackson jumped his big one, but I made the adjustment and it worked."

Two more silver medals came from the throws, as Corey White was second in the men's javelin and Shanna Dickenson was runner-up in the women's discus.

White, who was throwing in only his eleventh ever meet, unleashed a huge PR in round two, sailing the spear 69.76/228-10. "The only thing better I think I could have hoped for tonight was gold," said White. "I was relaxed and had good focus, even though it was a bit tough to throw this late at night. I have always had the arm, but my college coaches (University of Redlands) helped me use it to become a much better thrower in just a year."

Dickenson made her first attempt count, recording a 49.68/163-0. "I stayed slow out of the back on my first throw and I was really calm. The winds were swirly, but I knew if my technique was solid I would do well," Dickenson said.

Pole vaulter Mitch Greeley of Clemson made his second trip to Canada more memorable than his first by winning a silver with a 5.00/16-4.75 clearance. At the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Greeley no heighted. "This was definitely a better meet for me," Greeley said. "I moved to a shorter pole since the winds were unpredictable, and I felt really comfortable. I felt like I should have made the next height (5.05), but it feels great to win a medal."

The men's 110 hurdles provided the first real controversy of the meet, with the morning's second preliminary heat being re-run after a collision with a flying hurdle left several athletes out of contention. Meet officials granted a protest from one of the affected runners and the heat was run again early in the evening session. The final saw another meet record from Cuba's Day Robles Planes, who won in 13.46 running into a 1.6 headwind. Team USA's Ty Akins of Auburn grabbed silver at 14.00, just ahead of teammate Dominic Berger's 14.01. Berger, a sophomore-to-be at Maryland, was one of the finalists who had to run three races today, winning both prelims before taking the bronze in the final.

"I knew I just had to go and compete with the Cuban," Akins said. "The headwind didn't really bother me. It feels great to be here as part of the elite." Berger added, "It was a change of mindset when I knew I had to run three races instead of two today. I just wanted to get on the podium, whatever it took."

In the other finals Friday, Kira Robinson and Talia Stewart went 4-5 in the women's 100 hurdles, while Marie Lawrence was fourth in the women's 3000 and Lisa Canty was seventh.

Michael Bingham stands in third place after day one of the decathlon with 3911 points, four spots ahead of David Pichler.

Justin Oliver and Natasha Hastings were the fastest qualifiers in the men's and women's 400 prelims, and the men's 800 heats saw Team USA runners Karjaun Williams and Jacob DuBois both advance to the final.

Full results can be found at: www.panamswindsor.ca.