Mathewson Takes Third Place In USOC Female Athlete of the Month Voting
6/13/2011 12:00:00 AM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced triathlete Sarah Haskins and Paralympic long jumper Lex Gillette as its May Athletes of the Month, while divers Christina Loukas and Abby Johnston were awarded Team of the Month honors. USA Water Polo's Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, CA/UCLA/NYAC) took third place in the voting for Female Athlete of the Month.
Haskins (Colorado Springs, Colo.), a USA Triathlon National Team member and Beijing Olympian, raced her way to an undefeated month of May with three victories in three starts.
In addition to earning her first career ITU World Cup win in Monterrey, Mexico, May 8, Haskins was victorious at two of the top domestic Olympic-distance races - the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Petersburg, Fla., on May 1, and the Capitol of Texas Triathlon in Austin, Texas, on May 30. In between her key U.S. wins, Haskins claimed her first career ITU World Cup gold medal after breaking away from the pack midway through the bike and leading wire-to-wire on the 10-kilometer run to top the podium in 1:57:15.
Gillette (Kinston, N.C.), two-time Paralympic silver medalist, set a new Paralympic world record in the long jump; he broke the existing record for blind athletes 6 centimeters. The previous record was set in 1996.
At age 26, Gillette has become a solid competitor on the international scene in the long jump. He won silver medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games and the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 2007 Para Pan American Games. In Beijing, Gillette once again claimed silver in the men's long jump F11.
Divers Loukas (Riverwoods, Ill.) and Johnston (Upper Arlington, Ohio) won the gold medal in synchronized 3-meter at the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., May 8 in their first international competition together. It was the first U.S. gold medal in women's 3-meter synchro in an international competition since 2006, when Kelci Bryant and Ariel Rittenhouse won gold at the FINA Grand Prix Super Final. Loukas and Johnston were in second place, less than a point behind the British team of Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree, with one round to go and finished with 65.70 points on their back 2.5 pike in the final round to overtake Great Britain for the gold.
Each National Governing Body may nominate up to but no more than one female, one male and one team per discipline. The winners are then voted on from that pool of nominees.
Finishing second in this month's female category was canoe athlete Krisztina Zur (Costa Mesa, Calif.), winning four of five medals earned by Team USA at the two Sprint World Cups in May. She won the gold medal in the Women's K1 1000m and bronze in the 5000m at World Cup No. 2 in Racice, Czech Republic, May 20-22. A week later, she won the gold medal in the K1 500m and defended her title in the 1000m at World Cup No. 3 in Duisburg, Germany, May 27-29. She also placed sixth and seventh in two K1 200m finals. An eight-time World Championship medalist with the Hungarian National Team, Zur is competing in her second season as a member of Team USA.
In third was USA Water Polo's Courtney Mathewson (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) as she helped Team USA to a clean sweep of the FINA World League Prelims against Canada. She scored three goals against the Canadians and forced the game into a shootout where she was one of four shooters to hit their shots and spur Team USA to the victory. She was also recently named to the roster for the upcoming FINA World League Super Final to be held this June in China.
Finishing a close second for the men was cyclist David Zabriskie (Salt Lake City, Utah) who won two of the most prestigious time trial events in the U.S. Zabriskie won the time trial stage - sixth stage - of the AMGEN Tour of California on May 20 by 14 seconds against Levi Leipheimer in Solvang, Calif. On May 28, Zabriskie won the USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial National Championships by more than 30 seconds in Greenville, S.C. For Zabriskie, the win marks his sixth national time trial title.
Archer Brady Ellison (Glendale, Ariz.) finished third in voting with a standout month. In May, USA Today named Ellison their "Olympic Athlete of the Week." Ellison had a gold-medal performance at the first stage of the Archery World Cup, winning the individual gold medal, a team gold medal, and mixed team silver. Later in May, he broke his own national record, and reached a No. 2 World ranking as of May 30.
Finishing second, right behind Loukas and Johnston in the team category was the U.S. Men's Recurve Team of USA Archery. Consisting of No. 2 World ranked Brady Ellison, and fellow Olympic hopefuls Jake Kaminski (Edgewater, Fla.) and Joe Fanchin (Oceanside, Calif.), this team had a magnificent performance to open the 2011 World Cup season. The team proved unstoppable in elimination matches, finally taking the gold medal, 221-219, in a very tough two-point match against No. 1 World ranked country India, whom the U.S. has met several times in World Cup competition.
In third place in the team category was USA Gymnastics' U.S. Team. Team USA finished second in the team competition at the 2011 Stella Zakharova Cup in Kiev, Ukraine. The Ukraine posted a team total of 171.6 to take top honors. Team USA's 169.85 landed them in second place, followed by Russia with 168.46. The U.S. Team's event scores were: 29.6, floor exercise; 26, pommel horse; 27.4, still rings; 31.85, vault; 28.4, parallel bars; and 26.6, horizontal bar. Teams from 11 countries participated. The team competition format was three athletes compete on each apparatus with the top two scores counting for the team total.
The winners were selected by a voting panel. Online fan voting via the Twitter poll accounts for 10 percent of the total vote.
FEMALE
1. Sarah Haskins, Triathlon
2. Krisztina Zur, Canoe/Kayak
3. Courtney Mathewson, Water Polo
MALE
1. Lex Gillette, Paralympic Track & Field
2. David Zabriskie, Cycling
3. Brady Ellison, Archery
TEAM
1. Christina Loukas and Abby Johnston, Diving
2. U.S. Men's Recurve Team, Archery
3. U.S. Team, Gymnastics
Women's National Team