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June 18, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville freshmen throwers D'Ana McCarty and Chinwe Okoro will compete against the nations' top 19-and-under athletes at this weekend's USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

The meet is scheduled to begin on Friday at 2 p.m. ET with McCarty in the women's hammer throw and will continue at 5:45 p.m., with Okoro in the women's discus. The championship meet will conclude on Sunday with Okoro in the women's shot put at 3:15 p.m.

The 2008 collegiate track and field season ended for both McCarty and Okoro on May 30-31 at the NCAA Mideast Regional in Fayetteville, Ark. McCarty, a native of Indianapolis, Ind., finished 15th in the region in the hammer with a season's best throw of 180 feet, 8 inches. Prior to that, she finished fourth in hammer at the BIG EAST Championships scoring important points for the Cards en route to their first ever conference team title.

Okoro, a native of Russell, Ky., earned a pair of medal-winning performances at the BIG EAST Championships finishing third in both the discus and the shot put. Her season's best marks include 164-07 in the discus and 49-03.50 in the shot put. She finished 18th in the Mideast Region in the shot put and 24th in the discus.

Following the USA Junior Championships, the Cards will have at least three athletes competing for spots on Team USA for the 2008 Summer Olympics as jumpers Tone Belt and Andre Black and thrower Jere' Summers compete at the US Olympic Team Trials on June 27-July 6 in Eugene, Ore., while freshman Michael Eaton has earned the "B" qualifying standard in the 10,000m run.

Louisville head coach Ron Mann will serve as the men's middle distance coach for Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Aug. 8-24. Along with his duties in Beijing, he'll also be in Eugene for the US Olympic Team Trials.