News and Notes, Volume 10, Number 20 – Lowe, Lagat and Solinsky lead strong American contingent in Oslo – US Track & Field News

Newly-minted American record holder Chaunte Lowe leads the way into Oslo Friday at the Diamond League's ExxonMobil Bislett Games in Oslo, Norway.
 
Fans can watch the ExxonMobil Bislett Games live on www.universalsports.com beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.
 
The IAAF Diamond League encompasses 32 individual event disciplines, with a points scoring 'Diamond Race' which runs throughout the 14 meeting series. Winners of each Diamond Race will get a Diamond Trophy and a cash prize. For complete rules and regulations, CLICK HERE.
 
Lowe, fresh off her American-record clearance of 2.04m/6-8.75 in Cottbus, Germany on Sunday, will have to hold off reigning World Indoor and Outdoor champion Blanka Vlasic (CRO) once again after beating her last week at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
 
Two-time Olympic medalist and 2007 double world champion Bernard Lagat will compete in the men's 5,000m along with the 2009 USA Outdoor Champs 5,000m runner up Chris Solinsky, who recently set the American record over 10,000m. Lagat and Solinsky will be chasing the American record of 12:56.27, set by Dathan Ritzenhein last year.  Also watch for two-time Olympic and World Outdoor medalist Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) and the 2008 World Indoor 3,000m champion Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia.
 
LaShaunte'a Moore will lead the way in the women's 200m after breaking 11 seconds in the 100m last week for the first time and becoming the first female ever to do so in South America. She'll be joined by two-time World Outdoor 100m bronze medalist Carmelita Jeter, who is coming off a 10-race win streak in the 100m. They'll look to hold off three-time Olympian Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (BAH).
 
Reigning  World Indoor champion Debbie Dunn headlines the women's 400m, with 2009 World Outdoor 400m silver medalist Lashinda Demus and Monica Hargrove also in the mix. All three were members of the gold medal-winning 2009 World Outdoor Championships  4×400 team, and will take on 2008 Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain and Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica.
 
Two-time World Indoor champion and '08 Olympian Lolo Jones leads the women's 100m hurdles field and will try to hold off a pair of Canadian's: 2003 World Outdoor champion Perdita Felicien and 2009 World Outdoor silver medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep.
 
Trell Kimmons, the 2010 World Indoor Championships 60m fourth place finisher, will take on former world record holder Asafa Powell (JAM) and 2008 Olympic silver medalist Richard Thompson (TRI) in the men's 100m. Producing great times thus far this season, Powell looks to beat Thompson, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist.
 
 Two-time World Outdoor champion Kerron Clement will challenge two-time World Outdoor medalist Bershawn Jackson in the men's 400m hurdles. Jackson already has one Diamond League victory under his belt from his win in Doha.
 
2009 World Outdoor champion Christian Cantwell, the only man ever to win three World Indoor shot put titles, is entered that event. Also in the field is 2007 World Outdoor champion Reese Hoffa and two-time Olympic silver medalist Adam Nelson, the most-medaled man in World Outdoor shot put history. Joining them is Poland's Olympic gold medalist Tomasz Majewski.
 
2008 Olympic Games fourth-place finisher Derek Miles will go up against reigning Olympic and World Indoor and Outdoor gold medalist Steve Hooker (AUS) in the men's pole vault. Elsewhere, 2008 Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Brown-Trafton and three-time USA Outdoor champion  Aretha Thurmond will compete in the women's discus.
 
For more information and complete results from the 2010 ExxonMobil Bislett Games, visit https://www.diamondleague.com/Home/.  
 
Stork Report
Four-time Olympian and six-time USA Outdoor women's high jump champion Amy Acuff and her husband, 2001 World Indoor Championships men's pole vault silver medalist Tye Harvey, recently became the proud parents of daughter Elsa Skye Harvey.
 
Elsa entered the world on May 15 weighing in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce, and is 19.5 inches long. Mother, daughter and father, who reside in Isleton, Calif., are all doing well.
 
Koll wins Honda Award
 
Lisa Koll, a senior long distance runner at Iowa State University, has won the Honda Sports Award in track and field, designating her as the nation's top collegiate female athlete in the sport. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 34th year.
 
The Honda Sports Award is given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic eligibility to become a "Top Three" finalist for Collegiate Female Athlete of the Year. Koll was voted over three other senior nominees: Queen Harrison of Virginia Tech University, Mariam Kevkhishvili of the University of Florida and Blessing Okagbare of the University of Texas at El Paso.
 
Koll is the collegiate record holder in the 10,000-meter run and the sixth-fastest American woman ever in that race with a personal-best time of 31:18.07. She is a two-time NCAA champion and a nine-time All-American, as well as a nine-time Big 12 Conference champion. She was named the 2010 Outdoor Big 12 Female Performer of the Year after winning the 5,000m and 10,000m in Columbia, Mo., becoming the only woman to win four consecutive Big 12 titles in the same event (10,000m). She recently finished first in the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the NCAA West Regional in Austin, Texas, earning her a trip to the upcoming NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 9-12.
 
For more information, visit https://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&ATCLID=204954574&DB_OEM_ID=10700. 
 
About USA Track & Field
 
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.
 
For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

Abbey Doran
USA Track & Field
Communications Intern
abbey.doran@usatf.org