by Larry EderThe 2012 U.S. Open, to be held in Madison Square Gardens will feature a tight schedule, going from 7 pm to 9.55 pm, on Saturday night, January 28, 2012. The meet features some great clashes for early season indoor track & field, and for the 2012 season as well! We encourage all to get tickets and visit the MSG ( you have to be at an indoor track & field meet to believe it). If you can not do that, then watch the US Open on TV (check your local listings). We humbly suggest that you check out the live coverage via twitter and our LIVE blog at www.runblogrun.com. The hashtag will be #USopenMSG! See you there!
NEW YORK – Madison Square Garden will host perhaps the best and deepest
fields it has seen in several years as the 2012 Olympic track &
field season kicks off in earnest with the U.S. Open Track & Field
event on Saturday, January 28.
Full fields for the meet were announced by USA Track & Field on Tuesday and indicate that Bernard Lagat will
be busy trying to win a ninth mile title in the Garden; the men’s high
jump adds American depth; and the sprints and hurdles are even more
stacked with talent than they were a week ago.
Stars such as David Oliver, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Asafa
Powell, Jesse Williams, Nesta Carter, Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson,
Dawn Harper, Kellie Wells, Tiffany Ofili Porter, and Jenn Suhr all have been announced previously.
The inaugural edition of the U.S. Open is the first event of USATF’s
Visa Championships Series and will be held in the newly renovated
Garden. The first major professional meet in the United States to
kick-off the 2012 Olympic year, it will be broadcast on Sunday, January
29, from 7-9 p.m. on ESPN2.
Lagat faces challenge in mile; top jumpers on tap
The winner of a record eight Wanamaker Miles at the Garden, Lagat will
have no free pass to a ninth Garden win. At the U.S. Open, he will take
on 2011 World Outdoor 1,500m runner-up and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold
medalist Silas Kiplagat of Kenya, two-time World Indoor silver medalist Daniel Komen Kipchirchir of Kenya, and Henok Legesse of Ethiopia, who owns a mile personal best of 3:54.81.
In the men’s high jump, world champion Williams will take on 2010 World Indoor bronze medalist Dusty Jonas, 2004 Olympic fourth-place finisher Jamie Nieto, and 2007 USA Outdoor champion Jim Dilling.
More fireworks in sprints, hurdles
The defending World Indoor champion, Campbell-Brown will have her hands
full in the women’s 50 meters with reigning U.S. indoor champion Alexandria Anderson and Bianca Knight,
who led off Team USA’s gold-medal winning 4x100m relay at the 2011
World Outdoor Championships. In the men’s sprint, 2010 USA Outdoor
runner-up Trell Kimmons joins the field.
A man who has seen success at Madison Square Garden, Terrence Trammell replaces
Jason Richardson in the men’s 50m hurdles. The 2009 and 2010 Millrose
Games hurdles champion, Trammell is a two-time World Indoor champion in
the hurdles and is the defending World Indoor silver medalist. Also
mixing it up will be 2011 U.S. Outdoor runner-up Aries Merritt.
In the men’s 600 yards, 2005 World Outdoor 400m hurdles gold medalist Bershawn Jackson and Trinidad’s Renny Quow will
renew their Garden rivalry. Jackson won the 600 yards at the 2007 and
2010 Millrose Games at the Garden, while Quow was the champion in 2009
and 2011.
Other top athletes announced Wednesday include World Junior champion and 2011 USATF Youth Athlete of the Year Ajee Wilson in the women’s 800 meters, Anna Pierce in the women’s mile, Ginnie Crawford in the women’s 50m hurdles, Greg Nixon in the men’s 500 and Monica Hargrove
in the women’s 500 yards. A student at the Neptune Academy of Allied
Health and Science on Monmouth, N.J., Wilson looks to follow in the
Madison Square Garden footsteps of a fellow Jersey Girl, the legendary Joetta Clark-Diggs, whose high school records Wilson broke in 2011.
Athlete Fields, 2012 U.S. Open
Fields as of January 17, 2012; subject to change
Men’s Events
50 meters: Trell Kimmons (USA), Kimmari Roach (JAM), Asafa Powell (JAM), Justin Gatlin (USA), Daniel Bailey (ANT), Nesta Carter (JAM)
600 yards: Bershawn Jackson (USA), Renny Quow (TRI), Greg Nixon (USA), Tabarie Henry (UVI)
Mile:
Bernard Lagat (USA), Silas Kiplagat (KEN), Henok
Legesse (ETH), Daniel Komen Kipchirchir (KEN), Anthony Famiglietti
(USA), Matt Elliott (USA)
50-meter hurdles:
Aries Merritt (USA), David Oliver (USA), Terrence Trammell (USA), Jeff Porter (USA), Dwight Thomas (USA), Omo Osaghae (USA)
Shot Put: Christian Cantwell (USA), Adam Nelson (USA), Ryan Whiting (USA), Cory Martin (USA)
High Jump:
Jesse Williams (USA), Dusty Jonas (USA), Jamie Nieto (USA), Jim Dilling (USA)
Women’s Events
50 meters: Bianca Knight (USA), Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM),
Alexandria Anderson (USA), Tehesia Harrigan (IVB), Jessica Young (USA),
Gloria Asumnu (NGR)
500 yards: Monica Hargrove (USA), Jasmine Chaney (USA), Keshia Baker (USA), Davita Prendergast (JAM)
800 meters: Ajee Wilson (USA), Fantu Magiso (ETH), Jessica Smith (CAN)
Mile: Anna Pierce (USA), Stephanie Garcia (USA), Lauren Hagans (USA), Brenda Martinez (USA)
50-meter hurdles: Kellie Wells (USA), Lolo Jones (USA), Dawn Harper (USA), Tiffany Porter (GBR), Nia Ali (USA), Ginnie Crawford (USA)
Pole Vault: Jenn Suhr (USA), Becky Holliday (USA), Jillian Schwartz (ISR), Lacy Jansen (USA), Mary Saxer (USA), Janice Keppler (USA)
Fields updated to 1/24/12 below:
U.S. Open Track & Field Media Information
Saturday, January 28, 2012 * Madison Square Garden * http://usopen.usatf.org/
1- General Information
The complete Schedule of Events is available at http://usopen.usatf.org/
Races begin at 7:00 p.m., and will conclude following men’s 50m dash at 9:55
p.m.
The Athlete Fields
were announced via press release: http://usatf.org/News/
Tickets, starting
as low as $15, are available at the MSG Box Office (212.465.6073), Ticketmaster
charge (866.858.0008), all Ticketmaster outlets and via thegarden.com/usopen.
2- Twitter Hashtag
Tweeting news or results from the event? Use the hashtag #USopenMSG as a part of your coverage.
RBR will be covering these events on Thursday & Friday!
Thursday, January 26
1:00-2:30 p.m.: Press
Conference
- Asafa Powell (JAM), former
100m world record holder and sprinting legend - Nesta Carter (JAM), 2008
Olympic 4×100-meter gold medalist and one of the four fastest 100m runners in
the world - Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM), Olympic
and World Championships gold medalist - Dawn Harper (USA), defending
Olympic gold medalist in the hurdles
Friday, January 27
1:00-2:30 p.m.: Press
Conference
- Bernard Lagat (USA), two-time
Olympic medalist, American record holder and a track legend at the Garden - David Oliver (USA), American record
holder and Olympic bronze medalist - Lolo Jones (USA), two-time
60m hurdles World Indoor champion and American record holder - Kellie Wells (USA), USA Indoor and Outdoor
champion, breakout hurdles star of 2011 - Jesse Williams (USA), the first
American in 20 years to win the World Outdoor title in the high
jump
Final Fields for the High School Invitational Miles & the CHSAA Relays
Girls’ Invitational Mile
Emily Waligurski (Onteora HS/Onteora, NY)
Brianna Nerud (North Shore HS/Glen Head, NY)
Samantha Nadel (North Shore HS/Glen Head, NY)
Sarah
Jane Underwood (West Potomac HS/Alexandria, VA)
Dana Giordano (Bernards HS/Bernardsville, NJ)
Sara Sargent (Pennsbury HS/Fairless Hills, PA)
Taylor Driscoll (Saratoga Springs HS/Saratoga Springs, NY)
Keelin Hollowood (Saratoga Springs HS/Saratoga Springs, NY)
Marisa Ruskan (Bridgewater-Raritan HS/Bridgewater, NJ)
Madeleine Berkson (Classical HS/Providence, RI)
Boys’ Invitational Mile
Nick Christensen (Peabody HS/Peabody, MA)
Wesley Gallagher (Pembroke HS/Pembroke, MA)
Tom Awad (Chaminade HS/Mineola, NY)
Zavon Watkins (Liverpool HS/Liverpool, NY)
Christian Delago (Shaker HS/Latham, NY)
Mike Libruk (Shaker HS/Latham, NY)
Dustin Wilson (Chestnut Hill HS/Philadelphia, PA)
Konrad Surkont (Stuyvesant HS/New York, NY)
Zach Cammer (Walt Whitman HS/Huntington Station, NY)
Chris Cogliano (Bishop Guertin HS/Nashua, NH)
CHSAA Girls 4x400m Relay
Archbishop Molloy (Briarwood, NY)
The Mary Louis Academy (Jamaica Estates, NY)
Notre Dame (Staten Island, NY)
St. Anthony’s (South Huntington, NY)
St. John the Baptist (West Islip, NY)
St. John Villa (Staten Island, NY)
CHSAA Boys’ 4x800m Relay
Fordham Prep (Bronx, NY)
Kellenberg (Uniondale, NY)
Monsignor Farrell (Staten Island, NY)
St. Anthony’s (South Huntington, NY)
St. John the Baptist (West Islip, NY)
Xavier (New York, NY)
