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Seven medalists from the 1995 women's armed forces track and field meet claimed gold medals at this year's event, held May 22-23 at Santa Barbara (Calif.) Community College.
Of the seven medalists, four successfully defended their 1995 titles during the two-day event, hosted by the Naval Construction Battalion Center at Port Hueneme, Calif.
Navy Ensign Christine Stancliff retained her 1995 javelin title, winning this year's competition with a toss of 51.86 meters (171.1 feet). Stancliff, 1995 Navy female athlete of the year, then earned gold in the women's shot put with a 13.45 meter (44.4 foot) toss in winning over Army Spc. Karen Bill -- last year's champion.
Successfully defending her title in the 5,000-meter race was Army Sgt. Tracy Vandeventer, a reservist from Columbus, Ohio. She clocked the distance in 17:11.72, then added a second gold medal by winning the 3,000-meter event in 9:57.19.
Two other soldiers also retained titles. The U.S. military's fastest female sprinter, Spc. Rhonda Colvin, repeated her 1995 performances by capturing both the 100- and 200-meter runs. Colvin took the 100 in 11.04 seconds, then captured the 200 in 24.13.
Spc. Simone Brooks defended her long jump title with a 6.2 meter (20.46 foot) leap. Brooks also took two silver medals in the 100 and 200 sprints.
Navy athletes dominated this year's field competition, winning four of the six categories. Five of the Navy's seven medals came from field events.
Besides Stancliff's two gold medals, Lt. Julie Althoff won the high jump with a 1.6 meter (5.28 foot) jump. Navy Lt. Maureen Magnan bettered her third place finish last year with a 42.30 meter toss (139.6 feet) in winning the women's discus. Magnan also took a silver in the hammer throw.
Army kept a respectable presence in field events, thanks to Bill. Although losing one title to Stancliff, Bill captured four individual medals: silver in the shot put, gold in the hammer throw with a toss of 43.84 meters (144.7 feet),silver in discus and bronze in the javelin.
While Navy dominated field events, Army athletes fared better in track. Only the efforts of Navy Lt. Barbara Kannewurf and the Marine Corps' 1,600-meter relay team kept Army from sweeping the nine running events.
Kannewurf, assigned with the Portsmouth (Va.) Naval Medical Center, ran the 1,500 meters in 4:40.04 seconds to claim the gold medal. She finished third in 1995.
The Marine Corps team of Lance Cpl. Gertrude Aviles, Cpl. Camilia Jones, Cpl. Raphique Edwards and Lance Cpl. Ernestine Epps edged Army by two-tenths of a second to claim the 1600 relay. It was the Marines' only gold medal.
The rest was all Army.
Army Staff Sgt. Cynthia Swift earned her first two armed forces titles in winning both the women's 400- and 800-meter events. The Army 400-meter relay team of Brooks, Colvin, Sgt. Dawn Adams and Pvt. Tangela Stevenson clocked a winning time of 46.67.
Victories by Kannewurf and Vandeventer in the distance events overshadowed efforts by Air Force Staff Sgt. Lori Eppard, who claimed three of Air Force's 10 medals. The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, runner took silver medals in the 1,500-, 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs.
Army retained the team title, scoring 72 points and collecting 21 of the 45 available medals. Air Force (29 points), despite not winning an event, edged Navy by one point for second place. The Marine Corps finished with 20 points.
WOMEN'S COMPETITION
100-meter dash -- 1. Spc. Rhonda Colvin (A, University of
California-Berkeley ROTC), 11.84, 2. Spc. Simone Brooks (A, George
Mason University ROTC, Fairfax, Va.), 11.87, 3. Sgt. Angelique Todd
(MC, Camp Pendleton) 12.59.
200 -- 1. Colvin, 24.13, 2. Brooks, 24.70, 3. Todd, 25.57.
400-meter run -- 1. Staff Sgt. Cynthia Smith (A, Military
District of Washington), 56.93, 2. Senior Airman Monica Hockaday
(AF, Travis Air Force Base, Calif.), 59.19, 3. Staff Sgt. Sadie Smith
(A, Fort Hood, Texas), 59.22.
800 -- 1. C. Smith, 2:14:37, 2. Spc. Tonya Willis, (A, U.S.
Army-Europe) 2:17.89, 3. Cpl. Camelia Jones (MC, Marine Corps Logistics
Base, Albany, Ga.), 2:21.53.
1,500 -- 1. Lt. Barbara Kannewurf (N, Portsmouth Naval Medical
Center, Va.), 4:40.04, 2. Staff Sgt. Lori Eppard (AF, Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base, Ohio), 4:51.04, 3. Cpl. Wynona Larson (MC, Camp Lejeune,
N.C.), 4:51.64.
3,000 -- 1. Sgt. Tracy Vandeventer (A, Army Reserve, Columbus,
Ohio), 9:57.19, 2. Eppard, 10:16.71, 3. Larson, 10:36.34.
5,000 -- 1. Vandeventer, 17:11.72, 2. Eppard, 17:21.88, 3. Lt.
Barbara Hall (N, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.), 18:30.85.
400-meter relay -- 1. Army [Colvin, Sgt. Dawn Adams (U.S.
Army-Europe), Brooks and Pvt. Tangela Stevenson (Fort Gordon, Ga.)],
46.57, 2. Marine Corps, 50.44, 3. Air Force, 51:49.
1,600-relay -- 1. Marine Corps [Jones, Lance Cpl. Gertrude Aviles
(Marine Corps Air Station, El Toro, Calif.), Cpl. Raphique Edwards
(Camp Pendleton) and Lance Cpl. Ernestine Epps (El Toro)], 3:59.53,
Story by Master Sgt. Stephen Barrett, USA, American Forces Press Service
| Date Taken: | 06.05.1996 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2025 00:25 |
| Story ID: | 528894 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 4 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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