6/30/2008 10:04:34 AM
Miranda Melville and Hope Christie swept the Top 2 spots in the USATF Jr National Track and Field Championship 10000m Race Walk held on the campus of Ohio State University and the Jesse Owens Track.
Melville had a winning time of 54:04 and Christie's runner-up time was 55:11. The UW-Parkside "sophomore's to be" worked together through the early stages of the race, which included a field of 13 starters. The pair moved into the Top 4 on the 4th lap and then took over the top two spots on the 10th of 25 laps. They continued to work together over the next 5 laps, trading the pacing duties. Melville moved to the front for good over the final 7 laps earning the victory and Christie held steady pace to move away from the 3rd place finisher by more than a minute.
The USATF Junior Track Championship is open to athletes under 20 years of age and by virtue of their finish they earned a spot on the USA versus Canada Dual Meet that will be held in Victoria, British Columbia, in August.
Melville becomes the 5th UW-P female race walker to earn the USA Junior Title since 1991. The previous winners included Jen Zalewski (1991), Susan Armenta (1992), Robyn Stevens (2002), Christine Tagilaferri (2003). A total of eight UW-P male race walkers have earned the Junior Title as well in the past.
Melville, a freshman from Rush, New York, competed for TEAM USA at the World Cup Junior Race in Russia in May, where she was also the top American finisher. Christie, a freshman from Kenosha Bradford, was competing in her first race outside of Kenosha, and it was just her third race ever.
Coach Mike De Witt commented on the walkers performance at Ohio State: "Miranda and Hope did a great job of preparing to compete at Junior Nationals. They had to do the bulk of their training alone over the past 4 weeks and they both competed hard and looked very strong over the second half of the race. They did an exceptional job of adding to the race walk tradition of the program!"