Rohl walks away with 20K
victory
By John
Schumacher
Bee Staff Writer
(Published July 17,
2000)
Michelle Rohl enjoyed her stroll around
Sacramento State's campus Sunday morning. Now
it's time to start planning for a fun walk in
Sydney.
Rohl, a 34-year-old mother
of three from Black River Falls, Wis., earned her
third consecutive Olympic berth, winning the
Olympic Trials 20-kilometer walk in 1 hour, 32
minutes, 39 seconds.
Yueling Chen, the Chinese
10-kilometer Olympic champion in 1992 who is now
a U.S. citizen, was second (1:33.40) and
Debbie Lawrence third (1:33.48).
Rohl led from the start,
leading the field out of Hornet Stadium after 1
1/2 laps for repeat loops through the campus. She
pulled away at the 10K mark.
"The real race was the
first 10K," Rohl said. "At 10K, I knew I had to
make my break."
Rohl finished 20th in the
1992 Olympics and 14th in the '96 Games, both in
the 10K walk.
Women's 20K racewalk
final results
World record: 1:27.30 (Nadezhda
Ryashkina, Russia, 1999); American record:
1:33.17 (
Michelle Rohl, 1999); meet record:
None. (First time at 20 kilometers); world
leader: 1:38:19.1 (Danielle Kirk, USA);
Olympic 'A' standard: 1:36.00;
Olympic 'B' standard:
1:40.00.
Olympic qualifiers: 1,
Michelle Rohl, unattached, 1 hour, 32
minutes, 39 seconds. 2, Yueling Chen, unattached,
1:33.40. 3, Debbi Lawrence, Nike, 1:33.48.
Failed to qualify: 4,
Joanne Dow, adidas, 1:36.17. 5, Sara
Stevenson, Olivet Nazarene, 1:37.36. 6, Sara
Standley, unattached, 1:38.38. 7, Jill Zenner,
Miami Valley TC, 1:38.54. 8, Danielle Kirk, SoCal
Racewalkers, 1:40.49. 9, Gretzhen Eastler,
unattached, 1:41.24. 10, Susan Armenta, SoCal
Racewalkers, 1:43.17. 11, Amber Antonia,
Wisconsin-Parkside, 1:43.38. 12, Cheryl
Rellinger, Miami Valley TC, 1:44.14. 13, Victoria
Herazo, California Walkers, 1:45.23. 14, Bobbi
Chapman, World Class RC, 1:45.51. 15, Deborah
Iden, Parkside AC, 1:46.19. 16, Molly Lavacek,
unattached, 1:46.43. 17, Lisa Sonntag,
unattached, 1:47.23. 18, Debbie Benton, World
Class RC, 1:48.14. 19, Ali Bahr, Parkside AC,
1:49.45. 20, Lyn Brubaker, Shore Athletic Club,
1:50.04. 21, Heidi Hauch, World Class RC,
1:50.36. 22, Sam Cohen, Parkside AC, 1:50.48. 23,
Donna Chamberlain, Shore AC, 1:50.59. Theresa
Vaill, unattached, did not finish.