FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 23, 3009

OTC Elite To Open Outdoor Season In Arizona

Eugene, Oregon – The Oregon Track Club Elite will open its 2009 outdoor season Friday and Saturday,  March 27-28, at the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe.  The team, which has been at training camp in Tucson, Arizona since early March, will use the ASU Invite as a tune-up meet before returning to Eugene.

This early season contest will allow several OTC Elite team members to race events in which they don’t normally compete.  Matt Scherer will drop down in distance to sprint the 400 meters—an event in which he was a PAC-10 Champion while at Oregon.  Distance specialists Tom Brooks and Stephen Pifer will attack the 800 / 1500 meter double, while teaming up with Brandon Shaw, Kevin Hicks and Mark Wieczorek in the 1500 meters.  Wieczorek is looking to test his strength after a successful indoor campaign that was capped off by a second place finish at the USA Indoor Championships.  Don Sage and Gabe Jennings will either race the 3,000 meters or pace the 5,000 meters, depending on the meet management’s final decision on which event will be contested.

For the OTC Elite women, British 800 meter Olympian, Jemma Simpson, will make her outdoor debut in two events with different strategies.  Simpson, whose personal best in the 800 is 1:59.17, will race the 1,500 meters and the 400 meters in order to maximize her training as she looks towards the summer.

Results from the Arizona State Invitational can be found on the Arizona State website at:  http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/c-track/asu-c-track-body.html.  For updates on OTC Elite visit the team website at www.OTCelite.com.

Contact:
Rob Vermillion
[email protected]

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