J-Mee Samuels named
Track & Field News
High School
Athlete of the Year
Photo on Track & Field News
Press release from Track & Field News: Tuesday - November 15, 2005
Mountain View, California -- North Carolina sprinter J-Mee Samuels (Mt. Tabor High, Winston-Salem) is a unanimous choice as 2005's leading boys high school performer in the annual Track & Field News poll.
Samuels, now attending Arkansas, tallied a perfect score of 240 points to claim AOY honors. He ranked as the No. 1 All-America in both the 100m and 200m for ¹05 and became the first dash doubler to grab AOY honors since Derrick Florence in 1986.
Samuels's 100-meter best of 10.08 broke Florence's national High School Record. He won the elite Nike Outdoor Nationals meet as well as the U.S. National Junior century title.
Over 200, Samuels led the nation at 20.32, a time which makes him the No. 5 high school half-lap performer of all-time. He scored a double win at the Nike Nationals as he won that 200 and later placed 3rd in the USATF Junior race.
Following Samuels in the Top 10 AOY voting: 2. Ryan Whiting (Central Dauphin, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) No. 1 in the shot and discus; 3. Scott Sellers (Cinco Ranch, Katy, Texas) No. 1 high jumper; 4. Justin Oliver (Redan, Stone Mountain, Georgia) No. 1 at 400; 5. Mark Matusak (Loyola, Los Angeles) No. 1 at the mile and 2-mile; 6. Scott Roth (Granite Bay, California) No. 1 in the pole vault; 7. Greg Offerman (Charles City, Iowa) No. 1 in the 400 hurdles; 8. David Klech (California, San Ramon, California) nationally-ranked in the 300 and 400 hurdles plus high jump and long jump; 9. Robert Rands (East, Bellevue, Nebraska) No. 1 long jumper; 10. Michael Morrison (Great Bridge, Chesapeake, Virginia) No. 1 in decathlon, No. 2 pole vaulter.
Besides Samuels in the 100, Top 10 placers to win U.S. Junior championships in ¹05 included Whiting (shot), Oliver, Matusak (1500), Roth, Offerman, Rands and Morrison.
TRIPLE JUMPER DANIELS NAMED GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETE OF ¹05
Mountain View, California -- Triple jumper Brittany Daniels (Merrill West High, Tracy, California) won a tight voting battle to emerge as the 2005 Girls High School Athlete of the Year in the annual Track & Field News voting.
Northern Californian Daniels totaled 175 points for a 5-point edge over super-soph sprinter-hurdler Ebony Collins (Wilson, Long Beach, California).
During the ¹05 prep season Daniels, now attending USC, won the elite Arcadia Invitational and the California State TJ titles before placing 4th in the U.S. National senior competition. Her season's best leap of 44'11" missed her own national High School Record from ¹04 by just 3/4", and her wind-assisted bound of 45'7 1/2" is the longest prep women's triple jump ever by nearly a foot.
Daniels also long jumped a best of 20'3 1/2" during ¹05 and won at Arcadia and State to rate as the No. 5 All-America in that event.
Collins ranked no.1 in the 400 hurdles after winning the U.S. Youth and World Youth titles, also rated No. 3 in the 100 and ran on Wilson relay teams which led the 4 x 200 and ranked No. 2 in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400.
Following Daniels and Collins in the year's Top 10 voting: 3. Sarah Bowman (Fauquier, Warrenton, Virginia) No. 1 miler; 4. Rachel Yurkovich (Newberg, Oregon) javelin High School Record setter and unbeaten by preps; 5. Alexandria Anderson (Morgan Park, Chicago) No.1 in the 100 & 200, plus No. 5 at 400;
6. Rebekah Noble (Rogers, Spokane, Washington) No. 1 in the 800; 7. Mary Saxer (Lancaster, New York) High School Record setter in the pole vault; 8. Lauren Stewart (Brentwood, Tennessee) No. 1 in the heptathlon; 9. Stephanie Horton (Tigard, Oregon) No. 1 in the shot; 10. Aranxta King (Medford, Massachusetts) No. 1 in the long jump.
Samuels is only the third NC prep to be named their boys or girls athlete of year. The others were: 1977 -
Julie Shea, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons HS, distance runner 1998, and
Greg Yeldell, North Rowan HS Spencer, triple jump.
T&FN started doing their annual boys list in 1947 and the girls list in 1977.
Contributed by Gene Cherry
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