June 17, 2001
RICHMOND, Va. — University of Kentucky freshman Jeff Chakouian claimed two titles at the USA Track and Field Junior Nationals on Saturday, June 16, at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Va.
Despite poor weather conditions and fatigue, the UK sophomore-to-be repeated as the men’s shot put champion and won the discus competition for the first time in a span of just four hours. His first victory came in the discus throw with a toss of 168-05.00 to top his nearest competitor by a foot and a half.
Less than four hours later Chakouian stepped up for the shot put competition and retained his crown as the top junior-aged (19 years old or younger) thrower in the nation with a heave of 63-09.00, nearly eight feet further than the second-place finisher. He nearly claimed a personal-best throw when he topped the 67 foot mark, only to just step beyond the foul line.
“Today was pretty good,” Chakouian said. “I had three goals coming in — to win the discus and the shot, and to break Michael Carter’s record (64-06.50 in the shot put). I came pretty close on the record. I was so exhausted, I just didn’t have the energy to keep the (throw) in (the sector). I’m really excited with the two national championships.”
With his first-place finishes, Chakouian is now a member of Team USA which will represent the US at numerous junior-aged track and field events later this summer, including the Junior Pan American Games to be held in Argentina. Also, by finishing in the top eight, Chakouian was named a Verizon? Junior All-American. He will next travel to Eugene, Ore., for the USA Outdoor Championships to be held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
UK was also represented on Sunday, June 17, by freshmen Beth Heimann, David Freemen and Paul Ciurlys in the 800 meters. Heimann finished third in the preliminaries with a time of 2:11.04 to advance to the finals. Freeman and Ciurlys advanced to the finals of the men’s 800 as Ciurlys finished in 1:53.10 in the preliminaries, while Freeman crossed the line in 1:53.17. The results of the men’s and women’s 800-meter finals were not available at press time.
