NEWS & NOTES: Seven athletes with Washington ties receive USATF Foundation grants...
Schwarzman announced that he is increasing his available grant funds through the USA Track & Field Foundation in 2020 by $250,000, bringing his total to $875,000.
Schwarzman’s grants will significantly increase the number of athletes that receive funding from the USA Track & Field Foundation. With the 2020 Diamond League, Olympic Trials and Tokyo Games being postponed or cancelled, many athletes will face a year-long struggle to finance their training and living needs. The Stephen A. Schwarzman grants will provide a bridge and safety net to these dedicated athletes until a sense of normalcy is restored.
Former Pullman resident Katie Nageotte was one of 25 athletes nationwide who received a grant of $20,000 from the foundation.
Among the 75 athletes receiving grants of $5,000 are Allie Ostrander, Brannon Kidder and Nia Akins of the Brooks Beasts; Bellingham native and 2020NE Olympic marathon team member Jake Riley; Vancouver native and three-time US Olympian in the javelin Kara Winger; and Seattle resident and University of Washington volunteer assistant coach Sam Prakel (above, #1233/photo by Paul Merca).
The USATF Foundation release is available here.
CONTINGENCY PLAN IN PLACE FOR A POSSIBLE US OPEN MEET IN SEPTEMBER...
While the possibility of a season-ending US Open meet is fluid depending on the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, their is a contingency plan and potential options in place to safely hold a national season ending event this year, according to a post on the USA Track & Field web site.
The projected dates for a US Open meet are either the week ending September 13th or the week ending September 20th, with the meet site to be announced based on facility availability, state and local COVID-19 status, and state and local guidelines on mass gatherings.
As it currently stands, Eugene's newly renovated Historic Hayward Field would be out, as large gatherings including concerts, conventions, festivals, and live-audience sports are cancelled or significantly modified through at least the end of September.
The key date to watch is July 15th or thereabouts, when a decision to confirm the event will take place.
USATF's release is available here.
In a related note, after receiving numerous requests by athletes, coaches and agents, by decision of the sport committee chairs, USATF will accept marks from USATF sanctioned events during the period of April 6-November 30, 2020 for qualification at the 2021 USATF Indoor Championships and 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field.
Previously, USATF followed the lead of World Athletics in disallowing marks made from April 60th to November 30th for qualifying for next year's USATF indoors and the Olympic Trials. However, World Athletics will not allow marks made during that time period to be used to qualify for the Olympics.
USATF's release is available here.
NOTE: USATF and the USATF Foundation contributed to this report.
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