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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Striders Perform Well at the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic National Championships

August 13, 2004 --                  

Two local athletes ended the 2004 youth track and field season with impressive showings at the USATF  National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Eugene Oregon July 27th thru August 1st.  Hosted by the Oregon Track Club and Emerald City Track Club, over 5,500 young athletes converged on the University of Oregon's Hayward historic Hayward Field to compete in various events.

Competing for the Warren-Massillon Striders, Aris Mittas of Perry Local finished 22^nd in the long jump and Jahari Murdock from Jackson Middle School was 15^th in the long jump, 17^th in the 200m and 24^th in the 100m dashes respectively.  This was Murdock's second appearance at the Nationals having competed in the long jump and 400m dash in 2002 in Omaha NE.  Murdock also earned Honorable mention All-American honors in the long jump and 200m dash from the National Elite Youth Track and Field Ranking System.

Sponsored by the United Stars Track Club, the National Elite Youth Ranking System is a database of over 300,000 performances by more than 50,000 athletes during the year 2004 outdoor track and field season. The performances are taken from the official results of USA Track and Field and AAU Association, Regional and National Championships with a few open meets included.  Murdock ranked 84th nationally of 2632 performances reported in the 200m dash and 100th out of 1855 performances reported in the  long jump. Although not making the cut off for All-American status, Mittas finished the 2004 season ranked in the top 300 long jumpers in the United States in his division.