U.S.. Association of Blind Athletes names Athletes\Teams of the Year

(Colorado Springs, CO) – The U.S.. Association of Blind Athletes is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2004 Athletes and Team of the Year awards. Track athlete Royal Mitchell (Hardeeville, S.C.) was named Male Athlete of the Year while tandem cyclist Karissa Whitsell (Eugene, Ore.) received the Female Athlete of the Year award. The U.S.. Women’s Goalball Team was named Team of the Year.

Mitchell and Whitsell are now eligible for the U.S.. Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Year awards while the U.S.. Women’s Goalball Team is eligible for the U.S.OC’s Team of the Year award.

Mitchell entered the Athens Paralympic Games as one of the top visually impaired sprinters with a World Record in the 200m and a gold medal in the T13 400m at the Sydney Games among the many achievements of the then-21-year-old.  And Mitchell’s performances exceeded expectations when he not only successfully defended his 400m gold medal, but also won the T13 100m, setting a new Paralympic Record of 10.98 seconds in the process.

Whitsell and her pilot Katie Compton continued their domination of Paralympic cycling at the Athens Paralympic Games, winning medals in each of their four events: pursuit, kilo, match sprint and road race/time trial. The duo kicked the Games off with the first medal for Team U.S.A, claiming silver in the tandem kilometer time trial on September 18, just missing gold and a new world record by six-hundredths of a second. Just two days later, they won a second medal – bronze in the tandem match sprint.  Whitsell and Compton finally had the opportunity to hear the national anthem played on September 22 as they finished the track portion of the Games with their first gold medal and a world record in the tandem pursuit.

Moving to the road, Whitsell and Compton placed second in the road race, just a wheel out of first place. As the road race and time trial events had been combined as a single medal event for the first time, this put them in an excellent position for the time trial where the Americans again defeated the field – this time by a margin of 16 seconds to ensure their second gold medal of the Games

Four years of long practices, 6 a.m. weight room sessions and being hit with thousands of balls at speeds in excess of 30 mph all became worth if for the U.S.. Women’s Goalball Team as they won the silver medal at the Athens Paralympic Games – the team’s best finish in 16 years.  Known for its defensive skill, Team U.S.A didn’t give up a single goal for seven consecutive games during preliminary competition before losing a close match to Canada, the reigning Paralympic Champion, in the finals.

The U.S.. Women’s Goalball Team included: Jennifer Armbruster (Colorado Springs, CO), Lisa Banta (Boonton, NJ), Nikki Buck (Paw Paw, MI), Jessie Lorenz San Francisco, CA), Asya Miller (Battle Creek, MI), and Robin Theryoung (Clarkston, MI).

For more information, please contact Nicole Jomantas, USABA Communications Director, at (719) 630-0422, ext. 10 or njomantas@usaba.org