5/21/2009 9:05:38 AM
Miranda Melville, last year's USA Junior (U20) Race Walker of the Year, completed her first ever 20km Race Walk and earned the qualifying time for this year's championship that will be held at the University of Oregon on June 27th. She will be joined by teammate Le'erin Voss, who also met the standard for the event. A third member of the UWP program, Erika Lamp, earned a mark in the Junior National Championship, held on the same day in Oregon when she met the standard in her first attempt at the 10 km distance.
Melville was the overall winner of the event, the UWP May Race Walks, that was held on the Petrifying Springs 2000m loop course on Sunday morning. The sophomore from Rush, New York walked a time was 1:47:01. Runner-up in the event went to UWP junior Le'erin Voss, the 3rd year athlete from Nashotah, Wis., walked a time of 1:49:10. Lamp is a freshmen from Westosha Central High School, and covered the 10km distance in 58:43.
All three of the UWP women were able to complete their races with covering the second half of the race faster than the first half. Melville earned a career best mark for 10km when she walked the second half of the race in a time of 52:10. Last year, her best mark was 53:05, that she walked at the World Cup Junior Championships in Russia.
On the men's side of the event, UWP alums swept that Top 3 spots and earned qualifying marks for the USA Championships as well. Ben Shorey (1:28:47), Mike Tarantino (1:29:21), and Stephen Quirke (1:30:25) completed the sweep of the event.
Shorey and Quirke compete for the Parkside Athletic Club and Tarantino compete unattached and is currently residing in San Diego, Cal. Quirke and Tarantino each walked career best marks by over 2 minutes.
In the Masters Division, UWP Coach Mike De Witt finished 2nd in the Over 50 division 10km event with a time of 56:23. He placed 3rd overall in the Master's Age Grading with a mark of 80.50% and the overall winner of the Age Grade was Jack Bray, 76 years old of Pardeville, wis., who scored at 85.47. Bray is a multiple World Record Holder in Master's Race Walking.
UWP Coach Mike De Witt commented on the walkers performances on Sunday. "The weather conditions were at optimum on the Petrifying Springs course. It was a great payoff for the hours of training that the women have put in for the past 6 months. It is a young group, with Melville walking her first year at the senior distance and Voss in her second year. It was great to see them walk negative split races and look stronger as the event moved into the later stages. It was nice to have the UWP men alums on the course as well. They did a good job of working together helping walk as well as they have ever done."