The Pettit National Ice Center, a U.S. Olympic Training Facility, is proud to announce the success of several local speed skaters at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Salt Lake City. There were some great races skated by athletes who train at the Pettit Center on a daily basis.
The skater with one of the best performances at the Trials was Charles Leveille, a member of the Pettit Center’s Short Track team. Leveille, who is originally from Atlanta, Georgia, never skated on a long track oval before coming to the Pettit Center in June 2005. After skating on the oval for the first time, Leveille and his coach, 1994 U.S. Olympian Tony Goskowicz, saw potential and began to focus on long track skating.
After only 6 months skating long track and only 2 months with actual long track skates, Leveille earned a spot on the 2006 Olympic Team. Leveille is a member of the team pursuit squad. Team pursuit is a new event for the 2006 Winter Games. Leveille also took home a 2nd place finish in the 10,000 meters and 3rd place finish in the 5,000 meters.
Joining Leveille are some Wisconsin skaters who hail from Wisconsin. Verona, Wisconsin’s Casey FitzRandolph (3rd Olympics), Kip Carpenter of Brookfield, Wisconsin (2nd Olympics), Janesville, Wisconsin’s Tucker Fredricks (1st Olympics), River Falls, Wisconsin’s Maria Lamb (1st Olympics) Catherine Raney of Elm Grove, Wisconsin (3rd Olympics) and of course West Allis, Wisconsin’s Chris Witty. This will be Witty’s 5th Olympics and 4th Winter Games (she also competed in the 2000 Summer Olympics in cycling).
Another skater making a big splash at the Trials was Waunakee, Wisconsin’s Jeff Aussprung. The 16-year old Aussprung, who was a short track national champion in 2005, competed in his first Olympic Trails and proved that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Also a member of the Pettit Short Track Team, Aussprung set three long track American Junior B records. Aussprung set new marks in the 1000 meters, the 1500 meters and his sprint samalog total (a sum of 4 races) of 148.025 shattered the previous record of 150.790.
Below is a listing of Pettit Center speed skaters who participated in the Olympic Trials:
Jessica Smith: Place 5th overall in the Ladies Allround and 9th in the 1000 & 5000 meters
Ericka Hawke: Placed 6th overall in the Ladies Allround and 5th in the 5000 meters
Mitchell Whitmore: Placed 24th overall in the Men’s Allround and 9th in the 10000 meters
For more information on any of the speed skaters listed above or any other skaters that train at the Pettit Center, please contact Rob Multerer by phone at 414.266.0100, ext. 132 or by email at rmulterer@thepettit.com.
Contact: Rob Multerer
Director of Marketing
Pettit National Ice Center
414.266.0100 ext. 132
rmulterer@thepettit.com
