June 22, 2002
PALO ALTO, Calif. - In the first competition of her post-collegiate career,
former University of Arizona athlete Brianna Glenn won the national long
jump title at the first day of the 2002 USA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships at Stanford University's Cobb Track and Angell Field.
Glenn jumped 21-feet, 2 ˝-inches (6.46m) on her fifth and penultimate leap
of the competition. It was good enough to move her a quarter-inch of
then-leader Grace Upshaw, who finished second at 21-1 Ľ (6.43m).
"I wasn't feeling it in the preliminaries (her first three jumps), so I
wanted to get something going," said Glenn, who advanced to the finals in
third place with a jump of 20-7 Ľ (6.28m) on her second jump.
"Jumping 21-2 is not great, but sometimes it does it for you. Thank
goodness it was enough. This is a great start to my post-collegiate career
after not doing as well as I would have liked at the NCAA meet (where she
was fourth after winning the event in 2001)."
Glenn then had to wait through the final round of jumps, during which she
fouled on her attempt, before being the official winner. Her U.S. title is
the second in as many years for former Arizona athletes. Abdi Abdirahman
won the 10,000m title last year.
Her mark was the shortest lowest since 1988 when Shelia Echols had the same
mark, but it was good enough for the national title and a spot on the U.S.
team for the World Cup, September 21-22, 2002, in Madrid, Spain. Glenn also
earned $4,000 for her win.
"I am obviously very happy for Brianna to be the U.S. champion. She
definitely deserves this," Arizona's new director of track and field/cross
country Fred Harvey said. "After not doing great in the prelims and then
running in the heats of the 100m, that fifth jump was huge for her.
"On her earlier jumps, she wasn't really finishing them, she was just kind
of happy to be on the board (with a fair jump). She made some good
adjustments, though, on the fifth jump and made it happen."
Mike Kenyon, who completed his collegiate eligibility earlier this year,
won his heat of the men's 400 meters in 45.98 seconds. His time was the
fourth-best overall from the three heats advanced him to Saturday's
semifinal in the event.
Kenyon, a first-time competitor at the National Championships, started
slowly out of lane four, but took control of the race with 200 meters
remaining. His heat included, among others, Angelo Taylor, the 2000 Sydney
Olympics 400m-hurdle Gold Medallist.
"I wanted to get out of the blocks and start to feel the pace of the race,"
Kenyon said. "Once I got into the rhythm of the race, I knew that I had a
chance to win it. The backstretch was kind of slow, so I started to take
control of it.
"I wasn't expecting to win (going into the race), but now I feel that I
have a good chance to make it through to the finals and get into the top six
(to make the relay team)."
Harvey added, "Mike came up big time. For him to win his heat like he did,
in his first time at the U.S. Championships, was a huge confidence builder.
He ran very well and took control when he had to. Now, his confidence is
sky-high."
In between her attempts in the long jump, Glenn finished third in her heat
of the 100m semifinals, advancing to the final Saturday. While she was
second in her first-round heat, Glenn ran 11.48 in the semifinal, easing at
the tape behind two Nike runners, Chryste Gaines and Torri Edwards. She ran
10.96 and 11.19, respectively. Marion Jones ran 10.98 in the second heat.
Earlier in the day, Arizona freshman Sean Shields finished second in the
discus at the U.S. Junior National Championships, also being held at
Stanford. He secured a spot on the U.S. Junior team that will compete at
the World Championships in Jamaica later this summer, and he will compete in
the shot put tomorrow.
