by Larry Eder
Dee Dee Trotter, photo by PhotoRun.net
For the performance brands, their support of the sport of track & field is key for many of these athletes to continue in the sport. adidas & NIke are the largest supporters of track & field, but, add many of the brands such as Saucony support a team that makes sense for their brand.
Bottom line is this: without the footwear sponsorship of track & field, the sport would cease to exist. Each brand has its place.
SAUCONY®’S MADISON AND TROTTER LEAD TEAM SAUCONY AT
2012
U.S. TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS
Record Number of Qualified Team Saucony Athletes Find Their Strong On Fast Track to
London
LEXINGTON,
MA (June 25, 2012) – Global
performance running footwear and apparel brand
Saucony, Inc. today announced that Tianna Madison and DeeDee
Trotter are the first Team Saucony
athletes to earn themselves a berth on the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. Competing at the 2012
U.S. Track and Field Trials, Madison
earned a trip to London by taking second in the women’s 100-meter dash on Saturday
in
a personal best time of 10.96 seconds. On Sunday, Trotter finished
second in the 400-meter finals in a time of 50.02 seconds and will make
her third appearance for the
U.S. in the Olympics.
Madison and Trotter lead
a record qualifying 22 Saucony sponsored track and field athletes, the
largest and most talented team the brand has ever posted for the Trials,
which run from June 21 to July 1 at the
University of Oregon’s Hayward Field in
Eugene,
Oregon.
“We’re extremely proud of every one of our athletes competing at the Trials,” said Richie Woodworth, president of Saucony.
“They inspire all of us to be better, to find our strong by elevating their own.
As a performance brand, this is one of the most important platforms in
our sport─it’s our proving ground. Our presence in Eugene and London
next month makes a bold statement for the brand as we get to showcase
our award-winning footwear and apparel technologies
on the world’s best athletes, while helping to push their performance
to new levels,” added Woodworth.
In addition to Madison and Trotter, the Saucony women’s roster is led by
Molly Huddle,
the fastest American woman at 5000 meters and a nine-time All-American from the
University of
Notre
Dame. Huddle’s most outstanding season came in 2010, where she
progressed from breaking 15 minutes in the 5,000m
for the first time to going on to run 14:44.76 to set the American
Record. Additionally, Huddle is a six time USA National Road Race
Champion, including three consecutive USA National 10K titles (2008,
2009, 2010).
Leading the Saucony team on the men’s side is 2008 U.S. Olympian
Wallace Spearmon, Jr., a three-time NCAA champion at the
University of Arkansas. With two of
the fastest times in the 200 meters this year, Spearmon, Jr. is the
winner of three consecutive World Outdoor Championships 200-meter
medals (2005, 2007, 2009). One of the world’s fastest sprinters,
Spearmon, Jr. comes to
Eugene to find redemption: He
finished third at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but was later disqualified for a lane infraction, costing him the bronze medal.
Team Saucony competing at the 2012 U.S. Track and Field Trials is as follows:
ATHLETE | EVENT | HOMETOWN |
WOMEN |
|
|
KESHIA BAKER | 400M | Los Angeles, |
MOLLY BECKWITH | 800M | S. Bloomington, |
MASON CATHEY | STEEPLE | Indianapolis, |
AMANDA DUNNE | 5000M | Columbia, |
QUEEN HARRISON | 100Mh/400Mh | Blacksburg, |
ASHLEY HIGGINSON | STEEPLE | Annandale, |
MOLLY HUDDLE | 5000M | Providence, |
MAGDA LEWY-BOULET | 5000M/10,000M | Oakland, |
PORSCHA LUCAS | 200M | College Station, |
TIANNA | 100M/200M/LJ | Orlando, |
AMY MORTIMER | 1500M | Manhattan, |
DEEDEE TROTTER | 400M | Knoxville, |
LAURYN WILLIAMS | 100M | Miami, |
JESSICA YOUNG | 100M | Columbia, |
MEN |
|
|
GARRETT HEATH | 1500M | Palo Alto, |
ADAM NELSON | SHOT PUT | Watkinsville, |
WILLIE PERRY | 100M | Raleigh, |
JEFF SEE | 1500M | Columbus, |
DUANE SOLOMON | 800M | Rosemead, |
WALLACE SPEARMON | 200M | Bryan, |
BEN TRUE | 10,000M | Hanover, |
RYAN WILSON | 110Mh | Los Angeles, |
Saucony, Inc.:
Saucony, Inc., a subsidiary of Collective Brands, Inc., is a leading
global running lifestyle brand that fuses performance, innovation and
style to create compelling footwear and apparel with its widely
recognized brands Saucony and Saucony Originals. Founded in 1898,
Saucony continues to inspire runners everywhere with its
award winning innovations, including ProGridâ„¢, PowerGridâ„¢ and ViZiPROâ„¢
apparel. For more information, go to
www.saucony.com.
Collective Brands, Inc. (NYSE: PSS)
is
a leader in bringing compelling lifestyle, fashion and performance
brands for footwear and related accessories to consumers worldwide. The
company operates three strategic
units: Payless ShoeSource, Collective Brands Performance + Lifestyle
Group (PLG) and Collective Licensing International. Payless is the
largest specialty family footwear retailer in the
Western Hemisphere and is dedicated to providing
incredible value pricing for trend-right styles of footwear and
accessories for the entire family to enjoy. PLG is focused on
lifestyle and performance branded footwear and
high-quality children’s footwear sold primarily through wholesaling,
with its brands including Stride Rite®, Keds®, Sperry Top-Sider®
Robeez®, and Saucony®, among others; and Collective Licensing
International, the brand development, management and global
licensing unit, with such youth lifestyle brands as Airwalk®, Above The
Rim®, Vision Street Wear®, STRIKEFORCE™, Clinch Gear™, Sims®, Lamar®
and LTD®, World Snowboarding Championships™ and Hind®.
