Erin Jackson Is Going To The Olympics!

24 year old Erin Jackson has only been participating in long track speed skating full time for four months.   Coming into the US Olympic Speed Skating Trials in West Allis, WI she had posted a personal best 39.51 time in the 500m back on December 23 in Salt Lake City.

But the former University of Florida engineering student and inline skater from Ocala, FL picked a great time to set new personal best times, and did so when the pressure was highest.

"I really wasn't expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can. " said Jackson. "A couple of weeks ago I was still in the 40's.  So this has all happened pretty fast."

The best she can is going to take her to Pyeongchang, South Korea and the Winter Olympics.

She went 39.22 in her first heat during the Trials Friday night, and even faster in her second heat at 39.04 to become the first Black female athlete ever to qualify for a US Olympic long track speed skating team.

Jackson finished third in the 500m, behind her Ocala, FL homegirl Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma to punch her ticket to Pyeongchang.

February 8 and the start of the upcoming Winter Games is getting more interesting by the day with all this Black Girl Magic happening.

Ty Underwood Murder Trial Starts In Tyler

After a delay because the defense attorney's motion for more time to prepare a defense for his client was granted, the trial of 21 year old Carlton Champion, Jr, the alleged killer and former boyfriend of Ty Underwood got started in Tyler Tuesday.

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The 24 year old Underwood was killed back in January, and Champion was arrested January 29 and charged with first degree murder.  His defense attorney is trying to claim that police have the wrong guy, while prosecutors say otherwise.

Let's hope we get an early Christmas present of justice for Ty.

Evon Young Trial Update II

As I promised you TransGriot readers, I was going to be keeping track of developments in the various trials of the five people, Victor Stewart, Ashanti Mcalister, Billy R. Griffin, Ron Joseph Allen, and Devin L. Seaberry who were arrested and charged with the murder of 22 year old transmasculine rapper Evon 'Yung LT' Young.

Young went missing on New Year's Day and it is suspected that after the alleged perpetrators killed him and disposed of the body in a dumpster, his remains ended up in a Menomonee Falls, WI landfill which was searched for 13 days but the body was never recovered.

Now to update the judicial scorecard for you in the search for justice for Evon Young..   

23 year old Devin Seaberry pled guilty to a lesser charge of second degree reckless homicide on July 2 in return for their testimony against Griffin, Mcalister and Allen.   Seaberry was supposed to be sentenced October 17 but as of yet haven't discovered what his punishment was. 

Same story for 27 year old Victor Stewart.  He pled guilty June 5 to second degree reckless homicide in exchange for his testimony against Griffin, Mcalister and Allen and was supposed to be sentenced July 23.     
26 year old Billy Griffin, whose first trial ended in a hung jury on June 17, was arraigned on first degree intentional homicide charges and his retrial is set to start in November.

19 year old Ashanti Mcalister was found guilty of first degree intentional homicide on June 27, and was sentenced on September 12 to life imprisonment.   He'll be eligible for parole in 2066.  

The trial of 37 year old Ron Allen was supposed to start on October 7, but haven't discovered as of this writing whether it started on that date or was rescheduled for a later date.

Will continue to keep an eye on how things are transpiring in Milwaukee until all the people who are being tried in this care are tried and our fallen trans brother and all who loved him receive justice.  

Good Luck Keelin!

The US Olympic Track and Field Trials (called Athletics to the rest of the world) will kick off today and run through July 1 in Eugene, OR to determine who gets those coveted all expense paid spots on the US Olympic team we're sending to London.

I've talked about transman Keelin Godsey, who has been pursuing his dream of competing in the Olympics since 2008.

Starting at 2:15 PM EDT 28 year old Godsey will take the first steps toward sporting history when he competes in the hammer throw prelims competition with 23 other athletes at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, OR.  If everything goes well for Godsey he'll be in the finals that start at 4:15 PM EDT.  

Keelin was a 16 time All-American athlete at Bates College and the Division III national champion in 2005 in the hammer throw before transitioning during his senior year.

Godsey has continued post college to excel in the event and has already passed the Olympic qualifying standard of 68 meters.   He long ago socially transitioned to male, but will compete in the women's hammer throw and is considered by IOC and IAAF rules as a female competitor.  He is forgoing taking testosterone until either after the trials or the London Olympics so that he could make his Olympic competition dream come true.    

If Keelin places in the top three finishers, he not only will make the team, he will become the first open trans athlete ever to quality for their national Olympic team and the US Olympic team.   Keelin already has the distinction of being the first open trans athlete to make a US Pan Am Games squad and competed in the 2011 Pan Am Games, finishing fifth in the hammer throw competition in Guadalajara. 

Keelin, good luck and hope you make your Olympic dream come true.

TransGriot Update:  Sadly, Keelin failed to qualify.   Finished fifth despite a personal best throw of 231 feet 3 inches. Missed a trip to London by 11 inches.

The Road To London Is Starting In Houston

As you Olympic junkies like me already know the London Games will be contested from July 27-August 12. 

The qualifying for the various international team sports and events has been going on, is happening or will be happening around the world over the next few months for the chance to become an Olympic champion.

The road for the 2012 US Olympic marathon contingent that will compete in London on August 5 and August 12 started in downtown Houston at 8:15 AM CST for the 113 men and women who hope to gain one of the six spots available.

We're running the Houston marathon this weekend, and as part of it we snagged the honor of hosting the 2012 US Olympic Team trials.  One of the cool things they are doing is the men's and women's marathons are being run at the same time.  

The marathon is one of the events that has been contested on the men's side in every modern Olympic games since the 1896 revival and is by tradition the last event that closes out Olympic competition. 

The women's marathon is contested at the midpoint of an Olympiad.  It has a shorter history because of the decades long contentious battle to get it and any race longer than 1500m for women on the Olympic program.

The last Americans to win an Olympic marathon were Frank Shorter at the 1972 Munich Games.and on the women's side Joan Benoit in the inaugural women's marathon contested at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. 

Since 1996 it's been predominately an East African party on the men's side with the Kenyans and Ethiopians dueling for supremacy with only the 1996 and 2004 golds eluding their grasp..  

The temp right now folks as I compose this is 52 degrees (11 degrees C) with bright sunshine and little to no wind which is why we run the Houston Marathon in January.

Hey, it isn't Hades hot here all the time.   But back to the post.  

They had an opening ceremony for it last night at Discovery Green complete with a fireworks display and appearances by Shorter and Benoit.  We'll also know which six people earned their ticket to London by running down the streets of Houston in a few hours.

TransGriot Update:  The 2012 US Olympic Marathon team is:on the men's side Meb Keflezighi, the winner and 2004 Olympic marathon silver medalist who ran a personal best 2:09:08 time. Pre-race favorite Ryan Hall was second in 2:09:30 and third was Abdi Abdirahman, who clocked a 2:09:47 and has run the 10,000 meters in the last three Olympics.

The US women going to London will be Shalane Flanagan, who in just her second marathon ran a personal best 2:25:38 to win and lowered by 3:05 her previous personal best time. Desi Davila was second in 2:25:55 and Kara Goucher third 2:26:06  

Another good sign for the women is that the top four finishers all ran under the 2004 Olympic Trials record of  2:28:25 set by Colleen de Reuck.