RUNNING DOWN A DREAM VALLEY SPRINTER FELIX NAMED NATION'S BEST.Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer Allyson Felix Allyson Felix (born November 18, 1985 in Los Angeles, California) is a track and field sprint athlete, competing internationally for the United States in the 200 meters. Felix, born and raised in southern California, is also a devout Christian and is the daughter of an ordained was named the Gatorade National High School Girls' Track and Field Player of the Year on Tuesday, two days after becoming the first prep athlete since 1980 to qualify for the world championship team. The 17-year-old sprinter, who graduated from L.A. Baptist High of North Hills on Friday, accepted the trophy in front of family and friends during a press conference at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel The Westin Bonaventure Hotel is the largest hotel in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is 367 feet (112 meters) tall and has 35 floors. It was completed in 1977. The top floor has a revolving restaurant and observation level. in downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area. The sprawling, multi-centered megacity is such that its downtown core is often considered just another district like Hollywood or . ``It's an honor to get the award and to follow in the footsteps of so many great athletes,'' Felix said. ``That's what really is so neat about this award, to see who has gotten it in the past and where they are now.'' Felix joins a distinguished list of past winners that includes Marion Jones Marion Jones, also known as Marion Jones-Thompson (born October 12, 1975 in Los Angeles, California), is an American former athlete in track and field. She was the winner of five medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, which she later relinquished after , the former Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. High sprinter and three-time Olympic gold Olympic Gold is the official video game of the XXV Olympic Summer Games, hosted by Barcelona, Spain in 1992. It was released for the Sega consoles, Mega Drive/Genesis and Master System, and Sega's handheld, Game Gear. medalist to whom she is most often compared. Felix, long the best prep sprinter in the area, reached national prominence in April when she broke Jones' national junior record in the 200 meters while running against professional competition at the Mt. San Antonio College Mt. San Antonio College (commonly called Mt. SAC; pronounced as the word "sack") is a community college located in the Los Angeles suburb of Walnut, California, next to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona which is just over a hill. Mt. Invitational. Her time of 22.51 bettered Jones' mark of 22.58 set in 1992. Two weeks later, Felix broke the world junior record by running a 22.11 to win the Grand Prix Banamex against professional competition in Mexico City. She sped past the previous record of 22.19 set by Natalya Bochina of Russia in 1980. The 22.11 is the best time run by any woman in the world this year and placed her as the 10th-fastest U.S. woman ever in the 200 meters. Sunday, Felix captured third place in the 200 at the U.S. track and field championships at Stanford. By finishing in the top three, she qualified to represent the nation at the world championships in Paris this August. In March, she participated in the indoor world championships in England, breaking the national indoor junior record in the 200 earlier. Between her professional aspirations, Felix managed to win her third consecutive prep state title in the 100 meters as well as her second 200-meter title in a row. ``When it comes to track, Allyson's competitiveness can be seen twofold: a heart of a lamb with the spirit of a lion,'' said L.A. Baptist coach Dave Martinez. ``You can try and stare her down, but you can't run her down. She's the most focused athlete I've known in my coaching career and yet the most humble and gentle person I've had the opportunity and privilege of knowing.'' Felix will decide this summer whether to honor her commitment to the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission or turn professional. Her goal is to make the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. She was chosen from more than 415,000 female high school track and field athletes nationwide by a panel of sportswriters and sport-specific experts on the Gatorade National Advisory Board. Felix is a finalist for the inaugural Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Athlete of the Year
Matthew Kredell, (818)713-3607 matthew.kredell(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Allyson Felix, 17, is named the Gatorade National High School Girls' Track and Field Player of the Year on Tuesday. Matt Sayles/Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion