John MarkmanTrack and field

Naples

Last week:

Markman, a junior running in his second meet of the season, clocked European season-bests in two events Saturday at Vicenza.

Markman, the reigning European Division II cross country champion, ran a hand-timed 2 minutes, 6.00 seconds in the 800 meters and a 4:18.00 in the 1,500, qualifying for this year’s European championships in both events. He also won the 3,000 meters in a hand-timed clocking of 9:50.04 in qualifying for Europeans at that distance, too, as well as helping Naples’ 4x400 relay team, also to earn a place at Europeans.

“[Markman] trains continuously,” his coach, Chip Noonan wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. “As team captain, John works hard in practice and is an extremely impressive runner.”

Markman’s time in the 800 adjusts to 2:06.24 for fully automatic timing, while his 4:18 in the 1,500, converts to 4:18.24. Second best times in both distances were also run Saturday, by Alex Cunningham of Kaiserslautern and Ramstein’s Kel Secrest, respectively.

Valentina LeeTrack and field

Naples

Last week:

Lee, a junior, threw her hat into the ring for this month’s European track and field championships by qualifying for four events in a meet at Vicenza on Saturday.

Lee clocked 27.13 seconds in the 200 meters and triple-jumped 32 feet, 7 inches, to win both events and stake her claim as a contender for individual gold at Europeans. Lee was just .33 seconds slower than the season-best time of 26.80, run by Tiffany Heard of Ansbach on Saturday. Her time also was just .03 seconds behind the 27.10s run last Saturday by some of the event’s other main contenders, Adriana Archie of Würzburg, Christine Holland of Heidelberg and Tanisha Joyner of Lakenheath.

In addition to her individual triumphs, Lee ran legs on the Wildcats 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams, which also qualified for Europeans.

According to her coach, Chip Noonan, even off the track Lee is far out in front. “She is an outstanding leader,” he wrote in an e-mail about his team captain.

— Selected by Stars and Stripes staff

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