Melville Captures Spot on Pan American Cup Race Walk Team!

 (02/13/2011 - Coconut Creek, Florida) - Miranda Melville of Rush, NY, bettered her previous 20km mark by almost 4 minutes with a 1:41:39 3^rd place finish at yesterday's USATF Pan American Cup Race Walk Trials. Her finish at the Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, FL assured her a spot on the US Pan American Race Walk Cup Team.

 Melville, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and member of the USATF Niagara Association said "I corrected some short arm motion early in the race and extended my stride to pull away from Solomiya Logan. My turnover slowed with a bout of cramping at about the 12km mark and Logan caught up. Once that happened, I stayed with her and then really kicked at the end to pull away."

 While the final teams composition will depend on collegiate commitments; Maria Michta, post-graduate student at My. Sinai School of Medicine who finished first with a 1:36:30, besting the Olympic B standard, Erin Gray of the Bowerman Athletic Club in Oregon, and Solomiya Logan of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Athletics Club will round out the USA squad bound for Medellin, Columbia at the end of March.