State Games of America coming to Colorado Springs

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STATE GAMES OF AMERICA COMES TO COLORADO SPRINGS IN THIRTY DAYS

U.S. Athletes From 40 States Headed For Colorado Springs In 30 Days For The Nation’s Biggest Multi-Sport Festival - The State Games of America!

Colorado Springs, July 1----- In thirty days, one of America’s most unusual and most diverse sports events will unfold in Colorado Springs, with several thousand athletes competing in 31 sports at 22 venues, and bringing with them from 40 states some of the most interesting achievements and stories in sport.

It’s the 2009 State Games of America, July 30-August 2, the nation’s largest multi-sport event for athletes of all ages and skill levels, and as many as 10,000 athletes- elite, senior, masters, prep state champions, NCAA collegiate athletes and Olympic hopefuls, will be in the city which is the home of the United States Olympic Committee to test their skills and go for medals.

Main venues include the Colorado Springs World Arena, the United States Air Force Academy, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Fort Carson, and Colorado College.

It’s the third time that Colorado Springs and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation http://www.thesportscorp.org has hosted the signature event of the National Congress of State Games. A record 10,803 athletes came to the city in 2007, breaking the old mark of 9,482 for the 2005 Games in Colorado Springs. The 2011 event is ticketed for San Diego, California.

Athletes Can Still Register To Compete at: http://www.stategames.org

The Opening Ceremony of the Games, sponsored by AT&T, featuring rock star Carly Smithson, who just announced that she has joined a brand-new band, “We Are The Fallen,” gets underway at the Colorado Springs World Arena on July 30. Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medalist Henry Cejudo will cap off a torch run that begins that afternoon at the U.S. Olympic Training Center when he lights the Games official flame at the arena. Also on hand will be Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to welcome the athletes.

Opening Ceremony Tickets ($10.00/$5.00) at: http://www.ticketswest.com. Or (866) 464-2626. Every athlete who will compete gets to march in the Parade of Athletes by states during the evening, just like the Olympic Games procession of the nations.

Prominent State Games Alumni include NBA star Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, Olympic Greco Roman gold medalist Jeff Blatnick, Olympic long jump champion Ralph Boston, baseball pitching star Mike Mussina, Olympic swimming champion Tracy Caulkins, Olympic track and field champions Hayes Jones and Diane Dixon, Hall of Fame wrestler Dan Gable, gold medal swimmer Rowdy Gaines, boxer Roy Jones, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, basketball stars Spencer Haywood, Danny Manning, Rick Hamilton and Chris Mullin, and two-time Olympic shooting gold medalist Lones Wigger, Jr., among thousands.

A Sample Of Athletes Coming to Colorado Springs

Brenda Bumgardner, 42, of Denver, CO, is an amazing athlete….she is a former collegiate heptathlete at Northern Iowa, a football wide receiver for the Colorado Valkyries Women’s professional Football League team, and the current American Masters record holder in the indoor and outdoor pole vault, the event she will compete in at the State Games of America.

Maggie Willis (13), San Bernardino, California, the 2008 California State Games All-Around Champion at level 7 and the Games’ Gymnastics athlete of the year, competing for Inland Empire Gymnastics.

Asya Miller (29) is one of America’s premier Paralympic athletes. She threw the winning ball in the USA’s 4-3 overtime win over Denmark in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics Goalball gold medal game. She won a bronze medal in the discus in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney and was a 2009 ESPY nominee in the Best Female Athlete With Disabilities category. She will compete in the discus, shot put and javelin in Colorado Springs.

Track and field sprinter Scott Dickinsen, 28, of Saint Paul, MN, a former college athlete at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a silver medalist in the 2007 Star of the North Games in the 400 meters. The Star of the North Games sent 115 Minnesota athletes to Colorado Springs in 2007.

Denzel Everhart (17), this star track and field sprinter from Palo Duro High in Amarillo, Texas, has clocked a 10.75 in the 100 meters and 22.47 in the 200 meters already, and he’s only a sophomore. He was the champion and record-setter in the Amarillo Meet of Champions this spring and the TAAF Track & Field male Athlete of the Year.

Twin brothers Ellon and Evant Orange of Compton, California, stole the show in the Track and Field Competition at the 2007 State Games of America. The Long Beach Poly High stars, who are now freshmen at Grambling State and members of the school’s SWAC indoor and outdoor championship teams, went back home with gold medals in their pockets. They led Poly High to state prep relay titles in 2008 in the 4x100 and 4x400-meter races. Evant won the 100 Meters in a State Games of America record 10.91, beating brother Ellon, who got the Silver medal with an 11.12 clocking. Ellon got his Gold an hour later by winning the
400 meters with a fast 51.16. Both have entered the 2009 State Games of America in Colorado Springs, July 30-August 2 and will compete head-to-head in the 100 and 200. Ellon will add the 400 meters and discus, while Evant will try the shot put.

John Fitzgerald of Edmond, Oklahoma, has some great scrapbooks and memories. The 32-year-old athlete, a manager for Covidien, one of the world’s largest healthcare devices and supply companies, was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American for the Bronchos from 1997-2000, and was named to the All-Century State College Football Team in 1999 by the Daily Oklahoman. His Central Oklahoma teams won 34 games, and the ’98 crew went 13-0 and was ranked #1 in the nation. A shoulder injury ended his NFL dreams. Fitzgerald was a star track and field athlete as well, with a personal best of 180-4 in the discus and 52-11 in the shot put. He won both events in Colorado Springs in 2007 after taking silver medals in the 2005 State Games of America.

Michael McNamee, Sr. of Alton, Illinois, liked his trip to Colorado Springs so much in 2007 for the State Games of America that the 68-year-old swimmer is coming back this summer for the 2009 edition of the nation’s largest multi-sport event for athletes of all ages and skill levels. McNamee won nine medals (six gold) at the 2007 State Games of America, and he’s entered in eight events this summer at the Air Force Academy’s Cadet Natatorium. Also coming back with him will be his daughter, Mary, who won a gold medal and two bronze medals in the 2007 Games. She’s going in eight swimming events herself.

Rob Conrad, 25, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Track and Field……a two-time NCAA Division II All-American in the javelin at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently an assistant coach……he threw 208-9 and took 8th place in 2008 in the national championships and has a career best 214-9 toss.

Pole Vaulting Star Karlye Marshall (18) from Lewis-Palmer High in Colorado Springs is headed for UCLA on a track and field scholarship after nearing 13-feet in 2008, injured this spring, but was among the top six in the nation the year before…her sister Chandler (15) was a freshman at Lewis-Palmer this year and cleared 11 feet and was second in the 4A state championships after only vaulting for five months. Both are entered in the pole vault in the State Games of America events on their home track at LP High.

Former University of Delaware football and track athlete Nate Irvin…..The 29-year-old Irvin’s story is like those of scores of the expected 10,000 athletes of all ages and skill levels who will find their way to Colorado Springs this summer to go for medals in a field representing as many as 48 states. He was a football wide receiver, running back and tight end for the storied Blue Hen gridiron teams in 2000-2003, and a standout track and field sprinter who has career bests of 10.94 in the 100 meters and 22.14 in the 200 meters. He was a double gold medalist at the 2008 Keystone State Games in Pennsylvania when his home was in Lancaster, PA, and he beat his collegiate best times in the process. He’ll be in the 100M and 200m in the State Games of America field this summer.

Andrea Fairchild (35) Vicksburg, Mississippi. Will enter four swimming events after an amazing State Games of America record in track and field. She won gold medals in the high jump, shotput, discus and javelin in the 2003, 2005 and 2007 State Games of America and was the State Games of Mississippi champion in those events from 2002-2007. She was honored as the 2007 State Games of Mississippi Sportsman of the Year and she also won medals in the Hoosier State Games in volleyball and track while living in Indiana.

Matt Smith (33) Denver, Colorado. An accomplished triathlete who won the 2008 Steamboat Springs Triathlon with a course record, the silver medal in the 2008 State Games of the West in Colorado Springs, and took sixth in the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon. He’s also qualified for the Boston Marathon………Molly Smith (29) Denver, Colorado. Matt’s wife and a standout triathlete herself who was second in the Steamboat Springs Triathlon in her division. Won her age group event in the Crescent Moon and Danskin Triathlons. Took the State Games of the West silver medal last summer on the Prospect Lake/Memorial Park course.

Swimmer Curt Ormond of Colorado Springs has a gold medal in Triathlon from the 2005 State Games of America, and he’s going to go for more this summer during the 2009 event in his hometown. The 72-year-old competitor has entered three swimming events at the Air Force Academy’s pool during the State Games of America, July 30-August 2, continuing his storybook career that includes setting collegiate records at Ohio Wesleyan University, and competing in the U.S. Olympic Trials in three sports, Swimming (1960), Water Polo (1968) and Sailing (1976).

Jamie Koch (74) of Santa Fe, NM, will enter the track and field shot put competition at Lewis-Palmer High School with his sights set on repeating his gold medal-winning performance in the 2005 State Games of America, where he won the event with a toss of 13.55 meters (44.56 feet). He’s no stranger to the shot put in the first place, having won the 2005 World Masters Championship, the Huntsman World Games in 2007 and the 2006 European Championship. He was ranked 5th in the world among Masters throwers in 2007 and 12th in 2008. During his college career at UNM, he competed in football and wrestling for the Lobos (1956-59), and was named to its Athletic Hall of Fame in the Class of 2007.

Rose Fritzinger of Monroeville, Indiana, has apparently caught the State Games of America competition bug, and there is no treatment in site for the 42-year-old Director of Development for the East Allen County School System. Fritzinger is coming back to Colorado Springs again this summer to seek a third straight Discus gold medal in the State Games of America. She took home gold in 2005 and 2007 in the Games’ competition in Colorado Springs. The Discus thing is now habit with the Indiana-Purdue University-Fort Wayne graduate, though she competed in softball and volleyball in college, but not track and field. The Discus thing began for her in fifth grade after seeing her sister throw and has continued through Masters competition, where she has been consistently ranked, and has been the USA National Champion.

The State Games concept, a property of the National Congress of State Games, was developed in New York in 1978 with the legendary Empire State Games. In 2008, more than 400,000 athletes competed in State Games nationwide. State Games feature various
sports of the Olympic and Pan American Games as well as sports that have regional popularity within each state.