Four track and field athletes with ties to Greenville and Hunt County are preparing to compete at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in the next week.
Mariana Shostak, Joseph Brown and Ibrahim Fuseini, who’ve all competed for Texas A&M University-Commerce, are slated to compete in three events starting on Friday with Shostak running for Team Ukraine in the first round of the 4x400-meter mixed relay. Brown is to compete on Monday for Team USA in the first round of the men’s discus. Fuseini is to run for Ghana in the first round of the men’s 4x100-meter relay on Aug. 8.
Tara Davis-Woodhall, who has family from Greenville, is to compete on Tuesday for Team USA in the first round of the women’s long jump.
Shostak is to run on Friday in a relay that includes two men and two women. Her first round is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. local time. She was a five-time NCAA All-American for Texas A&M-Commerce and had two top-three finishes at the NCAA Division II national championship.
Shostak earned her spot on the relay by winning the 400-meter dash national championship in Ukraine in the personal-best time of 52.11 seconds.
Brown, who’s to throw at 3:10 a.m. (local time) on Monday, earned his spot by finishing third in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials back in June in Eugene, Oregon. Brown, who is from Mansfield, moved up from eighth to third in the trials with his final throw. He ranked 12th with his first throw in the finals (140-3). Then moved up to eighth with a throw of 202-0. He remained in eighth with throws of 199-0 and 176-6 and scratched on his fifth throw. Brown reached back and threw 215-10 to finish third and earn the automatic berth.
Andrew Evans won with a throw of 218-6 and Sam Mattis was second at 216-9.
Brown won the NCAA Division II national championship in 2017 with A&M-Commerce. He finished fourth at the U.S. outdoor championships in 2023 with a best throw of 205-3.
Fuseini, who is from from Accra, Ghana, has been selected to represent Ghana in the men’s 4x100-meter relay. The first round is at 4:35 a.m. on Aug. 8.
Fuseini finished first for A&M-Commerce in the 100 (10.15) and 200 (20.32) at the 2024 Southland Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships and ran legs on the Lions’ first-place 4x400 relay (3:06.84) and second-place 4x100 (39.54) relay.
Woodhall-Davis is one of the favorites to win the women’s long jump, which is to start at 4:15 a.m. local time on Tuesday. She produced under pressure to win the long jump at the recent trials in Eugene. She scratched (fouled) on her first two attempts and needed a clean jump to continue the competition. She jumped 21 feet, 9 1/2 inches to stick around for three more jumps but ranked fifth. She went 21-11 1/2 on her fourth attempt but still remained in fifth place. Davis-Woodhall needed a big jump to claim a spot in the Olympics and delivered on her fifth attempt, soaring 22-11 3/4 to take the lead and win.
She’s headed for her second trip to the Olympics. She finished sixth in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo with a leap of 21-11 1/2.
She won the 2024 world indoor title in the long jump in Scotland in March with a leap of 23-2 1/4.
Davis-Woodhall was also the runner-up in the 2023 world outdoor championship in long jump with a best leap of 22-8.
She grew up in Wylie and in California and was an NCAA indoor and outdoor champion at the University of Texas.
Her father Ty Davis was a hurdler/sprinter with the Greenville Lions. Her grandparents Reecy Davis Jr., Roz Lane and F.L. Lane are from Greenville. So was her late great-grandfather Reecy Davis Sr., who was a middleweight boxer. The Reecy Davis Recreation Center in Greenville was named for him.
NBC, the USA Network and the Peaco*ck steaming service have been providing televised coverage of the Olympics.
2024 Paris Summer Olympics
Track and field Schedule
(With local time)
12:10 p.m. Friday, 4x400-meter mixed relay first round, Mariana Shostak, Team Ukraine.
1:55 p.m. Saturday, 4x400-meter mixed relay finals.
3:10 a.m. Monday, men’s discus, first round, Joseph Brown, Team USA.
1:25 p.m. Wednesday, men’s discus finals.
4:15 a.m. Tuesday, women’s long jump, first round, Tara Davis-Woodhall, Team USA.
1 p.m. Wednesday, women’s long jump finals.
4:35 a.m. Aug. 7, men’s 4x100-meter relay, Ibrahim Fuseini, Team Ghana.
12:45 p.m. Aug. 9, men’s 4x100-meter relay finals.
