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University of Oklahoma Athletics
George Prepares For Junior World Track And Field Championships
October 16, 2000 | Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2000
NORMAN, Okla. - OU sophomore L'eron George has left for Santiago, Chile, to compete in the eighth annual IAAF/Coca Cola World Junior Championships Track and Field Meet. The Sooner sprinter will compete as a member of the 400-meter relay team for the United States. The meet schedule calls for two heats in the first round of the 400-meter relay at 2:55 p.m. Sunday with the championship set for 4:15 p.m. Sunday. Times are local to Santiago.
The Championships will be opened by H.E. Ricardo Lagos, President of the Republic of Chile, on Tuesday. The World Junior Championships is a major event of the IAAF World Athletics Series, and the eighth edition will bring together nearly 1200 athletes from 148 countries around the world. Competition will take place in the National Stadium in Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The IAAF is the world governing group for track and field. Daily updates on the events of the World Championships are available on the Internet at www.iaaf.org/wjc00 or www.usatf.org.
Jamaica won the 1998 junior world title in the 400-meter relay. The United States won the 400-meter relay title in 1988, 1990 and 1996. Entering the Championships, France has the fastest relay time in the world followed by Great Britain, Poland and the United States.
A total of 41 US athletes are part of the delegation. Of those, 27 are from US colleges and universities and five are from junior or community colleges. George is one of three athletes representing institutions that are part of the Big 12 Conference. The Pac 10 Conference has nine delegates followed by seven from the Southeastern Conference and the three from the Big 12.
George finished fifth in the 200 at the 2000 U.S. Junior Nationals with a 21.33, a mark that was just .01 seconds above his best 200-meter mark as a freshman. He also finished fifth in the 100-meter dash at the Junior Nationals with a 10.48. That meet was held in June in Denton. His mark in the 100 beat the qualifying standard for the World Junior Championships. He earned U.S. Junior National All-America honors for those performances.
In July, George participated in the Canada-USA Junior Meet, finishing fourth in the 200-meter dash with a 21.68. Later, he teamed with two of the runners who finished ahead of him to give the U.S. team a 40.70 in the 400-meter relay for a first-place finish.
George ran the best time for the Sooners during the indoor season in the 60-meter dash with a 6.82. He finished seventh in the Big 12 Indoor in the 200. The Dallas, Texas, native, hurt his hamstring in OU's first outdoor meet of the season and did not return to competition until the Texas Invitational on May 6. His time of 10.47 ranked eighth in the conference and he posted his season best in the 200 (21.32) at the Texas Invitational as well. He ran the third leg of OU's third-place 400-meter relay at the Big 12 outdoor meet.
Prior to his freshman year at OU, George earned U.S. Junior National All-America honors in the 200 with a third-place finish at the U.S. Junior Nationals, then participated in the 200-meter dash at the 1999 Junior Pan Am Games. He also was a member of the United States' record-setting 400-meter relay at the Junior Pan Am Games.
George came to OU with outstanding credentials. He led the district and the city of Dallas in the 100-meter dash and finished first in the 200 meter. He served as the captain of the team at Dallas Carter High School and was a member of the all-district football team.
George, who has three years of eligibility left at OU, plans to major in journalism. He was named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll for the fall 1999 semester with a 4.0 grade point average.
He is the son of Janice and Woodrow George of Dallas.
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