Joel Brown Eyes U.S. Track Trials

By: Keith Mills

The U.S. Track and Field trials are scheduled for June 27-July 3 at the University of Oregon, and Woodlawn High graduate Joel Brown is gearing up in a big way. Brown ran one of the fastest hurdle-relay legs last Friday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia as part of the Olympic Development 4-by-120-yard shuttle-hurdle relay. Brown ran a 13.21 split, helping his USA Blue team to a gold medal in 53.31 seconds.

At Woodlawn, Brown was a running machine for coach Mike Sye's Warriors. A three-time state champion in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, Brown set a state record in the 300 hurdles and finished third in the 110 hurdles at 1999 National Scholastic Championships. Brown went to Ohio State, where he won the national indoor championship three years ago and finished sixth in the world outdoors.

James Carter is also eyeing another trip to the trials. Carter ran for legendary coach Freddie Hendricks at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical and is among the world's premier hurdlers. Carter is a two-time Olympian, finishing fourth in the 400 hurdles in the 2000 games in Sydney and the 2004 games in Athens. He has won three U.S. 400 hurdles championships, including the 2007 title last year.

Issue 3.18: May 1, 2008