Five Former Tigers to Compete at This Week’s USA Outdoor Championships

June 22, 2009

Clemson, SC – Five former Clemson track & field athletes will compete at this week’s USA Outdoor Championships (June 25-28) in Eugene, OR. George Kitchens have also qualified in various events for the meet at Hayward Field. The top three finishers in each event earn automatic invitations to the IAAF World Championships, which will be held August 15-23 in Berlin, Germany.

Portions of the final three days of competition will be shown on live television. ESPN will televise action Friday from 8-10 PM (Eastern time) and Saturday from 7:30-9:30. NBC will broadcast Saturday’s action from 4-6 PM.

Padgett will get the competition started on Thursday in the 100m dash. The prelims are scheduled for 7:50 PM. The semifinals (6:45 PM) and final (9:50 PM) will be held Friday. Padgett, who established the NCAA record (9.89) in the event at this same facility, ranks among the favorites in the field this week. His best showing this season was a 10 flat in a win at the Super Grand Prix in Qatar. Padgett also ran a wind-aided 9.96 and was runner-up in the 100m dash at the Reebok Grand Prix on May 30. The Shelby, NC native was a six-time All-American from 2006-08 for Clemson before turning pro prior to his senior year.

Crawford is slated for both the 100m and 200m dash events. A former Olympic gold medalist in the 200m, Crawford was a three-time NCAA champion at Clemson from 1997-2000. His best performance in the 200m dash on the Visa championship circuit was at the Reebok Grand Prix, when he finished sixth. The 200m prelims are scheduled for Friday at 7:25 PM. The semifinals will be Saturday at 3:15 PM, with the final scheduled for 5:45 PM the same afternoon. Crawford is a two-time USA Outdoor champion in the 200m dash (2001, 2004).

Clark, who competed at Clemson from 2004-08, is qualified for the 5000m run. The event will be held Friday at 11:15 PM. Clark runs for McMillan Elite out of Flagstaff, AZ, an adidas-sponsored club. He qualified for the USA Outdoors after running at 13:45.97 at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, CA on April 24. Clark was an All-American in the 10K as a senior for the Tigers.

Greeley, a three-time All-American while at Clemson, will compete in the pole vault Saturday at 5:55 PM. The school record-holder jumped a career-best 18’2.5″ on June 14 in Jonesboro, AR. Greeley competed at Hayward Field last summer in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Kitchens qualified in the long jump, which will be held Saturday at 7:20 PM. Kitchens, a four-time All-American for the Tigers from 2002-05, qualified for the meet following a winning long jump of 25’9.25″ at the Georgia Invitational on May 9.