Rice Olympians
Rice life is char-
acterized by stu-
dents dealing with constant academic pressure, but a few select students have even more to challenge them; they are Rice's Olympic athletes.
A great many
of the Olympic hopefuls training at Rice are associated with the men's track and field team. Junior Brian Klein and sophomore Andrew Burrow have already qualified for the trials in the 800-meters. Junior Quinton Milner is very close to qualifying in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. And in the opinion of Head Coach Ray Davidson, both freshmen half-milers -- Derrick Small and Jaime Price -- have the potential to qualify.
The record-setters of last year's squad have already qualified in their respective events: Cliff Alexander and Bryan Bronson in the 400-meter hurdles, Ivory Angello in the triple jump and Kareem Streete-Thompson in the long jump and 100-meter dash.
Alexander is training in Tucson, Ariz., but the others are working out at Rice. Last week at the Texas Southern University relays, Angello sailed past the competition to win the triple jump with a jump of 55-5 1/2. Bronson, running for the Nike Track Club, also dominated the competition in the intermediate hurdles, winning the event in 50.38.
Adam Setliff, a standout in the discus, transferred from Rice to the University of Washington at the beginning of his junior year. However, he is returning to Rice to graduate and is training here. "I'm glad to see him back, even if he can't compete for us," Davidson said.
In addition to the team athletes, many of the coaches and trainers are themselves Olympians.
Assistant Track Coach Jon Warren is working on the steeplechase. And Volunteer Assistant Ricky Barker, a Texas A&M graduate, is currently the third-best U.S. decathlete. His scores have improved 500 points since he began training at Rice. His top performance to date came several weeks ago. Sick on the Sunday prior to competiton, he recovered in time to score 200 points higher than his previous best on Wednesday. It was the fifth- highest score ever by an American.
The United States Olympic Trials take place June 14-23 in Atlanta. The top three finishers in each event make the Olympic team. Bronson, Streete-Thompson, Angello and Barker are all considered to have very good chances at making the U.S. team. Warren and Alexander are more darkhorse competitors. But, cautions Davidson, "Anyone who's followed Rice track should know that you can never count Cliff [Alexander] out."
Streete-Thompson competed in the 1992 Olympics in the long jump for the Cayman Islands. Now considered one of the top performers in the world, he hopes to compete in the finals rather than watch the competition from his hotel room, as he did in 1992.
Angello jumped into the national spotlight last summer when he narrowly missed finishing second in the U.S. trials for the World Championships.
Both realize the importance of this opportunity. "The Olympics are the type of event that can make or break your career," Streete-Thompson said last summer.
Current Rice track member Brian Klein placed third at the NCAA Indoor Championships and will compete with 31 other runners in the 800 in a four-day long trial; every day eight runners are eliminated. The top three finishers will make the team, and the fourth and fifth finishers will be alternates.
"The 800 is a unique race [because of its distance] ... it depends on how much effort you exert the day before. To make it to the finals would be a supreme goal, [but] to run day after day and make it to the semifinals [on the third day] would be more realistic," Klein said.
The women's track team also has a number of athletes who might be headed for Atlanta this summer. Former members of the team include triple jumper Claudia Haywood, Canadian Rosey Edeh (a 1992, 400 hurdles Olympic competitor who has already been selected for this year's Olympic team), Canadian javeliner Valerie Tolloch (who hopes to qualify for this year's team) and 400 hurdler Pam Brooks.
There are also three current Rice students who are looking to qualify for the Olympics: Melissa Straker, Andrea Blackett, Dionne Wright and Cherita Howard. Blackett is hoping to compete in the 400 hurdles and will return home to Barbados in June to qualify.
"Between now and then I'm looking to run 57.1 [seconds]," Blackett said. She is also looking to compete in the 100 hurdles and possibly a relay. Howard hopes to compete in the long jump and the triple jump. Her goals include getting "some very good personal best" and doing "consistently well" in her qualifying performances.
Wright is hoping to represent Canada in the 100 and 200 and will attempt to qualify at trials in June. Wright is currently ranked number one in Canada. "[I expect to be] first or second in nationals ... [and] would love to qualify for the Olympics, but I have to make standards -- placing is not important," Wright said.
Rice's fencing coach, Mauro Hamza, will represent Egypt in the 1996 Summer Games. Hamza, who finished in the top 32 of 143 fencers in Seoul and 12th out of 128 fencers in Barcelona, expects to perform even better in this year's Olympics.
"The trials were back in July. Now, there are the world championships to travel to ... about twice a month all over the world," Hamza said. "But for now, training is fine. Sometimes it's twice a day, five, six days a week."
His training schedule consists of fencing practice combined with weight training. He is also competing in World Cup competitions around the world to improve his seeding for the Olympics; on weekends, he travels to area tournaments.
Rice swimmer Ginny Farmer competed in her first Olympic trials early in March. She swam the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley and finished 40th in the 200 and 30th in the 400. The top-two finishers made the Olympic team.
"I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to focus on [between the conference championships, NCAA qualifiers or the Olympics] and was trying to focus on all at the same time," Farmer said with regard to her performance.
But Rice will be repre- sented in more than just the athletic events. Krista Kyle, a member of the Rice dance team, will appear in the opening ceremonies. Ten thousand dancers auditioned for 1,000 places, in groups and individually; Kyle auditioned as an individual.
"I'm excited, I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to meet with so many people of different nations," Kyle said. "It's really wonderful to work with so many reknowned people."
This item appeared in the Features section of the March 29, 1996 issue.
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