USA T&F - USATF announces Pan Am Games roster - Spence and Ali are on
INDIANAPOLIS – Athletes with World Championships and Olympic experience, and a core group of young talent, will lead Team USA into the 2011 Pan American Games slated to be held October 24-29 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Fourteen 2011 World Championships team members are on the 90-person Team USA roster for the Pan Am Games. The roster consists of 46 men and 44 women.
The men’s team for the Pan American Games includes five field-event athletes who made the trip to World Outdoors in Daegu, South Korea. It includes reigning USA Outdoor hammer throw champion Kibwe Johnson, who will be making his second appearance at the Pan Am Games and placed second in 2007; 2011 USA Outdoors discus champion and 2008 Olympic Trials champion Jarred Rome; 2011 USA hammer throw runner-up Michael Mai; two-time USA discus runner-up Jason Young; and 2009 USA Indoor pole vault champion Jeremy Scott. On the track, World Outdoor 4x400m gold medalist Michael Berry will compete in the open 400. In Daegu, Berry clocked a split of 43.83 in the first round of the relay. Although he did not compete in the final, Berry’s split was the fastest of the Championships for Team USA.
The women’s team is led by two-time (‘99, ‘03) Pan Am Games gold medalist and three-time Olympian Aretha Thurmond in the discus and 2008 Olympic Games silver medalist and 2008 World Indoor silver medalist Jenn Suhr in the pole vault. Suhr is the American indoor and outdoor record holder and currently owns five USA Outdoor and five USA Indoor titles.
