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INDIANAPOLIS -- The USA Track & Field Foundation Board of Directors awarded 11 elite travel grants to elite athletes at its summer meeting in Eugene, Oregon, USATF Foundation Director Tom Jackovic announced Wednesday.
These grants assist athletes with travel expenses to prime meets as they pursue qualifying standards for the Olympic Trials, Olympics and World Championships in distance events (1,500m through marathon).
Athletes receiving the grants include middle distance runners James Carney, Kyle King, Thomas Morgan, Jason Jabaut, Stephen Haas, Miesha Marzell, Molly Huddle and Renee Metivier-Baillie. Steeplechasers Desiraye Osburn, Liz Wort, and Michael Spence also will receive USATF Foundation Grants.
In the last two years James Carney has become a promising 10,000m runner, placing fourth in the event at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships. In 2006 Kyle King lowered his 1,500m personal best on four occasions and set personal bests in the 3,000 meters three times while qualifying for the AT&T USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships.
A Kentucky grad, Thomas Morgan is a two-time finalist in the steeplechase at the NCAA Championships and has competed three times in the USA Outdoor Championships.
The 2001 IC4A men's 1,500m champion as a freshman at Villanova, Jason Jabaut also second in that event that year at the USA Junior Championships. His best finish at the USA Outdoor Championships came in 2005 when he placed 11th.
A recent graduate of Indiana University, Stephen Haas was the Big 10 Conference 5,000m champion in 2006 and was an All-American in that event.
The 1996 NCAA women's outdoor 1,500m champion while a student at Georgetown, Miesha Marzell is a two-time ECAC champion at 800 meters and the 1994 U.S. Junior champion at 1,500.
As a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, Molly Huddle won the women's 5,000m Big East Conference title, placed third at the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships and finished an seventh that summer at the Olympic Trials. The 2003 U.S. Junior 3,000m champion, Huddle ended her collegiate career with three Big East 5,000m outdoor crowns and the 2006 10,000m conference title.
Renee Metivier-Baillie finished fourth in the 5,000 meters at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a senior at the University of Colorado and placed 10th in that event at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships. An 11-time All-American as a collegian, Metivier Baillie was a two-time NCAA Cross Country runner-up and a three-time member of the U.S. World Cross Country Championships team.
A two-time Missouri Valley Conference women's 1,500m champion while at Wichita State University, Desiraye Osburn capped off her senior year in 2006 with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, and by finishing 14th at the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis.
Now a senior at Duke University, Liz Wort earned All-American honors as a junior with her fourth-place finish at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships. In 2005, she won the Atlantic Coast Conference title and placed fourth at the NCAA Championships in the 3,000m steeplechase. Last year she placed seventh in that event at the AT&T USA Outdoor Championships.
Michael Spence placed seventh in the steeplechase at the 2006 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships and ended the season ranked #7 in the country by Track & Field News.
The USATF Foundation provides a means to attract and guide funds to new and innovative track and field programs with an emphasis on providing opportunities for youth athletes, emerging elite athletes and anti-doping education. The Foundation depends on donations from its board of directors and from generous fans of track & field.
The Foundation assists people of all ages, all walks of life, and all ability levels in finding enjoyment and accomplishment and achieving fitness through our inclusive sport.
For more information on USA Track & Field and the USATF Foundation, visit USATF.org.
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