Track Inspires New Generation at U.S. Area Youth Olympic Selection Trials

MARIETTA, Ga., May 12 /PRNewswire/ -- America's best teenage track and field athletes experienced an Olympic dream come true when they competed in the inaugural U.S. Area Youth Olympic Selection Trials on the new Polytan-USA track surface at the University of Texas at Arlington.

U.S. athletes, aged 16-17, who placed first in their event and meet all eligibility requirements will be nominated for selection to the Americas Youth Olympic Team based on their performance at the trials.  A maximum of 24 U.S. athletes may be selected to the Youth Olympic Team.  Those selected will then join more than 3,600 athletes from 205 nations in Singapore for the first Youth Olympic Games, which will feature 26 sports, plus culture and education programs.

Excitement for the U.S. Area Youth Olympic Selection Trials has been building at UT-Arlington since Polytan, working with local partner, Ponder Company, installed the new track surface in August 2009.  UT-Arlington selected Polytan for this project based on the quality of the surfaces, which are featured in such world-class venues as Crystal Palace National Stadium-U.K., Gateshead International Stadium-U.K., Gottlieb Daimler Stadium-Stuttgart and Olympic Stadium-Munich.

U.S. athletes seeking spots on the Americas Youth Olympic Team competed on two types of surfaces installed by Polytan-USA at Maverick Stadium. These surfaces include both a urethane resurfacing and full depth track replacement in selected areas.

"We are delighted with the new running track at Maverick Stadium," said Stadium Manager Tom Kloza regarding the Polytan surfaces in Arlington. "The speed of installation and the quality of the surface exceeded our expectations. It was an honor to host the best teenage track and field athletes in the United States as they competed for a spot on the first-ever U.S. Youth Olympic team."

Polytan has been successful in meeting quality and performance expectations because its own installation teams lay the running track surfaces using specialized techniques and materials. In addition to the track at UT-Arlington, Polytan-USA teams have just completed a similar track resurfacing project at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.  They also have a major track installation in progress at Indiana University in Bloomington. The University of Tennessee will soon use its new track surface to host two major events, the Sea Ray Relays and the Southeastern Conference championships.

Other Polytan tracks in the United States include: Misericordia University, Dallas, PA; Austin Peay State University, Clarkesville, TN; Paragould High School, Paragould, AR.; Kingston High School, Kingston, WA; Harper Creek High School, Battle Creek, MI; Athens High School, Athens, AL; Bessemer High School, Bessemer, AL; Prince of Peace School, Plano, TX.

Polytan has manufactured and installed more than 300 million square feet of sports surfaces worldwide since its founding more than four decades ago. Along with being the most vertically integrated company in the synthetic turf and running track industry, Polytan has achieved the most FIFA 2-Star recommended installations of any synthetic turf company worldwide. In addition, five world records have been set on Polytan track surfaces.

Polytan-USA, headquartered near Atlanta, Georgia, is recognized for superior-quality German engineering of sports surfaces and in-house research, development, production, installation and after-sales support. Polytan, based in Burgheim, Germany, has been the global industry leader since 1969 in producing, designing and installing the worlds best artificial sports surfaces, including synthetic turf and the highest quality running tracks for international competition and high-performance stadium tracks.

SOURCE Polytan USA