June 14, 2004

Cantwell Shot Put Ledger

Titan Games page | Prefontaine Classic page

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Before reaching Sacramento, Calif., for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Missouri post-collegian Christian Cantwell will face a tough task this weekend as he will compete in two meets in consecutive days traveling over 2,100 miles between. On Friday, Cantwell will throw in the U.S. Olympic Committee's Titan Games in Atlanta, Ga. Soon after, Cantwell will catch a plane and travel to Eugene, Ore., for the Nike Prefontaine Classic.

Cantwell will face his first challenge of the weekend at the Titan Games, built by the Home Depot, in Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. Americans John Godina, Adam Nelson, and Reese Hoffa along with Canadian Brad Snyder will face-off against the former Tiger. Godina is a two-time Olympian, and Hoffa was runner-up to Cantwell at this year's USATF Indoor Championships and IAAF World Indoor Championships. The multi-sport event will also feature other Olympic sports such as, boxing, fencing, judo, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.

The Outdoor Life Network (OLN) will air tape-delayed coverage on June 26th, at 1:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Cantwell will throw in the Nike Prefontaine Classic, part of the IAAF's Grand Prix series and USATF's Golden Spike Tour. Last year at Hayward Field, Cantwell set a new personal-best of 70 feet, 5? inches (21.47m) placing second. Since, Cantwell has set a new personal-best five times including twice in his last two meets. His throw of 73-11? (22.54m) at the adidas Track Classic in Oregon earlier this month is the best the world has seen so far in 2004.

The shot put competition at the Prefontaine will begin at 3:26 p.m., central. ESPN2 will air coverage of the meet from 8:30 to 10:00 p.m., central, and ESPN will re-air the broadcast in late-July.

For more information on these meets visit usolympicteam.com and preclassic.com. Look for news from these meets on mutigers.com, usatf.org, and iaaf.org.