World Deaf Athletics Championships: Summary

United States earns 10 medals and ties with Kenya for fourth place in the overall Medal Standings behind Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.

On July 8, athletes and coaches arrived in Indianapolis for their 1-week training camp prior to the World Deaf Athletics Championships (WDAC). After a week long camp, we boarded a charter bus to Toronto. Team USA completed 5 days WDAC competition by bringing home 10 medals. There were a total of 27 countries with 241 athletes. 87 were female athletes and 154 were male athletes.

The medal winners were:
Gold
1) Men’s 400m – Delvin Furlough
2) Men’s 110m Hurdles – Joshua Hembrough (new Championship record)
3) Women’s 100m Hurdles – Janna Vander Meulen
4) Women’s 400m Hurdles – Janna Vander Meulen

Silver
5) Men’s 100m – Joshua Hembrough
6) Men’s Discus – Onyemachi Davis
7) Men’s Decathlon – Craig Saalfeld
8) Men’s 4x400m Relay – Delvin Furlough, Jonathan Ford, Immanuel Neubauer, & Joshua Hembrough

Bronze
9) Women’s 3000m Steeplechase – Erin LaFave
10) Women’s 4x100m Relay – Xylonda Collins, Janna Vander Meulen, Saria Webb, & Mariah Jackson

For full results, medal winners, medal standings, new Championship records, list of athletes and countries can be found below link.
Full Results

Thanks to Holly Saalfeld for taking lots of photos from training camp to the last day of competition. You can view photos on her Facebook page.
Facebook

Thank you all for your support!

World Deaf Athletics Championships: Day 3

The United States made their presence felt at the World Deaf Athletic Championships on Thursday, bringing home two gold medals, a silver, and a bronze. The team now sits fifth in total medal count out of the 27 participating countries.

Delvin Furlough won Team USA their first gold medal by winning the 400 meter finals with a time of 48.97. He also ran in the 200 meter semi-finals and advanced to the final heat by placing fourth with a time of 22.95.

Janna Vander Meulen won her first gold later in the evening by winning the women’s 400 meter hurdles with a personal record of 1:04.53.

Onyemachi Davis brought home a silver medal for having placed second with his throw of 50.33 meters (165′ 1″).

Erin LaFave won a bronze medal after an impressive comeback at the end of the women’s 3000 meter steeplechase clocking in at 11:24.21.

Two athletes advanced to finals for the 800 meter race. Michael Saalfeld placed third in his heat by an incredibly small margin of .006 seconds, winning him a spot in finals with a time of 2:00.6132. John Quatroche II will also compete in the 800 meter finals after placing fifth in his heat with a time of 1:58.22.

Kyle Winter and Jonathan Ford both competed in the men’s 400 meter hurdles Thursday evening. Kyle placed 5th running a 56.98 and Jonathan placed 8th with a 1:01.27.

Three athletes competed in the semi-finals for the women’s 200 meter race. Jasilyn Williams came in fifth in her heat with a time of 27.69, Saria Webb was fourth in her heat with a 26.96, and Mariah Jackson placed third in her heat with a 26.90, narrowly missing a spot in finals.

Xylinda Collins competed in the women’s 400 meter finals and placed 8th with a time of 1:00.56.

JoyLisa Davis placed fourth in the women’s long jump with a jump of 5.47 meters (17′ 11½”).

Craig Saalfeld, participating in the decathlon, had a full day of five events: 100m dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400m race. Craig currently leads the field with a total point score of 3483. The remaining five events will take place on Friday.

While Thursday was a very busy and successful day for the USA Team, they remain focused on the competitions remaining on Friday and Saturday. As Head Coach Thomas Withrow reminded the team, “we are not finished!”

World Deaf Athletics Championships: Day 2

Tuesday proved to be a challenging day for our USA Team.

Joshua Hembrough won the United States its first medal on Tuesday, a silver, after finishing second in the 100 meter finals. Early in the afternoon he qualified for finals by running an 11.23 and beat that time in the final heat with an 11.13, second only to Mykola Nosenko from Ukraine who ran a 10.92.

Three United States athletes ran the women’s 100 meter race: Xylonda Collins, Makenzie Hageman, and Mariah Jackson. Both Xylonda and Makenzie ran shy of qualifying times for finals, running 13.37 and 13.67 respectively. Mariah qualified for the final heat with a time of 13.10 in the semis, and finished eighth with a 13.25.

Three of our athletes competed in the men’s 400 meter race: Delvin Furlough, Immanuel Neubauer, and Michael Braziel. Immanuel finished third in the semi-finals with a 51.48, just one place short of advancing. Michael also finished shy of qualifying for finals after running a 52.67. Delvin Furlough qualified for finals by winning his heat with a 49.78.

Xylinda Collins and Makenzie Hageman competed in the 400 meter race. Xylinda qualified for finals, coming in fourth in her heat with a time of 1:00.01. Makenzie came up short with a 1:05.06.

John Quatroche II competed in the semi-finals for the 1500, qualifying with a time of 4:11.35. He scratched out of finals which were held later in the evening.

Emily Russi finished 11th in the finals of the women’s 1500 with a time of 5:52.54.

Darius Flowers finished fifth in the triple jump with a 14.80 meter (48′ 6 3/4″) jump after five fouls.

Crystle Marion finished in fifth place in the women’s shot put with a throw of 11.59 meters (38′ 0 1/4″).

Tuesday proved to be a challenging day for our USA team. Thirteen of our twenty-eight athletes competed throughout the evening. Time delays to faulty start-lights caused frustration as competitors worked to stay focused in their respective events. Wednesday was a rest day for athletes with competitions resuming on Thursday.

World Deaf Athletics Championships Opening Day

All of Monday’s competing athletes, Joshua Hembrough, Delvin Furlough, Immanuel Neubauer, Michael Braziel, and John Quatroche II are advancing after first day.

It was a great opening day for the USA Team at the World Deaf Athletics Championships in Toronto, Canada, with all five competing athletes advancing to finals and semi-finals.

The first event of the Championships began this afternoon with Joshua Hembrough competing in the 100 meter preliminaries and winning the best time today of all seven heats with a time of 10.98 seconds. He will run again tomorrow in the semi-finals. If he places in the Top 2 in his heat, he will also advance to Finals to be run later in the evening.

Three USA athletes competed in the 400 meter preliminaries. Delvin Furlough won the first heat with a time of 50.14 seconds and Immanuel Neubauer won his own heat with a 51.52. Michael Braziel will also advance to the 400 meter semi-finals, which will take place on Tuesday, after clocking in at 52.71.

John Quatroche II competed in the 1500 meter semi-finals this evening and finished second in his heat with a time of 4:11.35.

Today (Tuesday) will be another busy day of practice, preparation, and more competition for our United States team. Keep checking back for updates!

2012 World Deaf Track & Field Championships Team Rosters

WDAC (World Deaf Athletics Championships) is now underway in Toronto, Canada this week with 28 athletes and 7 officials.

This morning kicked off with an official practice for all countries at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada. Many well-known deaf elite athletes from around the world were present. Tomorrow will be the first day of competition. All results and medal tables will be available on WDAC website daily – http://www.2012wdac.org/Public/Results

The best performance list is also on that link to see where Team USA athletes stand.

The list of participating athletes and countries can be found here – http://www.2012wdac.org/Public/Participating-Countries

USADTF’s Facebook will be used frequently to inform fans the immediate results of our Team USA athletes. Make sure you click the ‘Like’ button and you will be informed up to date here .

Finally! Below are the Team USA rosters (from top to bottom):

1st row: BRAZIEL Michael, Jr., DAVIS Onyemachi, FLOWERS Darius, FORD Jonathan, FURLOUGH Delvin, GUIDON Thomas, HEMBROUGH Joshua
2nd row: KLUCAR Eric, MCLEAN Andre, NEUBAUER Immanuel, QUATROCHE II John, SAALFELD Craig, SAALFELD Michael, WINTER Kyle
3rd row: COLLINS Xylinda, COLLINS Xylonda, DAVIS JoyLisa, GRIFFITH Ashley, HAGEMAN Makenzie, JACKSON Mariah, KANG Leslye
4th row: LAFAVE Erin, MARION Crystle, POWELL Honesty, RUSSI Emily, VANDER MEULEN Janna, WEBB Saria, WILLIAMS Jasilyn
5th row: FITZPATRICK Daniel, FRANK Dave, HARRIS Brandy, PUGH Kayleen, SAALFELD Holly, SMITH Larry, WITHROW Thomas