Miranda places second and Hartung third in February 2003 USOC Athlete of the Month voting

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Sara Greenlee (USOC)
03/12/2003


A pair of U.S. wrestling stars, women's freestyle wrestler Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC) and men's freestyle wrestler Tim Hartung (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Storm) placed among the top athletes in the February 2003 voting for the USOC Athlete of the Month. Both Miranda and Hartung are ranked No. 1 in the USA in their weight classes on Team USA.    Miranda placed second in the balloting for Women's Athlete of the Month, behind only the winner, Paralympic Nordic skier Candace Cable (Truckee, Calif.).    Miranda won gold medals at two international wrestling events, the Dave Schultz Memorial tournament and the Kiev Grand Prix in Kiev, Ukraine.     At the Dave Schultz International, she won four matches, including two technical falls and an 11-6 decision over three-time World Champion Miyu Inoue of Japan in the finals. At the Kiev Grand Prix, Miranda outscored three of her opponents by a 27-1 margin. She pinned her other opponent. In the gold medal finals, Miranda defeated 2002 World Champion Brigitte Wagner of Germany 3-0.    In winning the Athlete of the Month honor, Cable swept all three cross country ski distances (2.5km, 5km, 10km) in the sit-ski division during the Nordic World Championships for the Disabled in Baiersbronn, Germany, Feb. 7-15. Cable is also the first American woman (disabled and non-disabled) to hold that position in Nordic World Cup history.    Hartung was third in the voting for Men's Athlete of the Month, behind the winner, alpine skier Bode Miller (Franconia, N.H.) and the runner-up, speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno (Seattle Wash.).    Hartung captured a gold medal at the Dave Schultz Memorial International in Colorado Springs, Colo. and won both of his matches at the Titan Games in San Jose, Calif.    At the Dave Schultz Memorial International, Hartung outscored his five opponents 41-7. In the gold medal finals, he trailed Wilfredo Morales of Cuba 2-0 going into overtime before making a furious comeback and winning 4-2 in overtime. At the Titan Games, Hartung once again defeated Morales, this time by a 2-0 score in overtime and 2001 CISM Military World Champion Siarhei Borchanko of Belarus 10-3.     In claiming the USOC award, Miller won three World Championship medals, a historic first for the U.S. men. He first won silver in the super G on Feb. 2. Four days later, he won gold in the combined (slalom and downhill). He added more hardware Feb. 12, with a gold in giant slalom, winning by three-hundredths of a second.    Selected for Team of the Month honors was the U.S. Men's Bobsled Team of Todd Hays (Del Rio, Texas), Randy Jones (Winston-Salem, N.C), Bill Schuffenhauer (Ogden, Utah), and Garret Hines (Atlanta, Ga.). Results (first place points in parentheses)     USOC ATHLETE OF THE MONTH VOTING, FEBRUARY 2003    MEN  1. Bode Miller, alpine skiing, 52(48)   2. Apollo Anton Ohno, speedskating,  21  3. Tim Hartung, freestyle wrestling, 14(3)  Also receiving first place votes: Chris Soule    WOMEN  1. Candace Cable, paralympic nordic skiing,  27(15)  2. Patricia Miranda, freestyle wrestling,  25(21)  3. Jennifer Rodriguez, speedskating, 19(9)  Also receiving first place votes: Kirsten Clark, Tristan Gale, Sanaz Shahbazi    TEAM  1. U.S. Men's Bobsled Team 51(51)  2. U.S. Men's 5,000m Short Track Relay Team 33(3)