USOC FEMALE ATHLETE

LONG NAMED RUNNER-UP FOR USOC FEMALE ATHLETE OF JULY
August 18, 2005

Finishes 2nd to Towson's Hoff

by Marge Neal

Honors continue to pile up for former Dundalk-Eastfield Swim Club member Jessica Long.

And she finds herself among some pretty lofty company with the most recent accolade.

Long, a double-amputee who owns a list of world, Pan American and U.S. records now too numerous to mention, just finished second in U.S. Olympic Committee voting for Female Athlete of the Month for July.

She lost the top honor to another Maryland swimmer, able-bodied Katie Hoff of Towson. Hoff, the youngest female swimmer on the U.S. Olympic team who went to Athens last summer, won three gold medals at the FINA world championships meet last month.

"I know Katie pretty well. We've trained a little bit together," Long said a couple minutes after learning about the honor Tuesday. "I'm glad for her.

"My dad told me I got second and I asked, 'Second in what?' Then he told me and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh!'"

The 13-year-old Middle River resident was recognized for her performance at the U.S. Paralympics swimming national championships in Oregon on July 15-17.

During the three-day meet, Long set one world, five Pan Am and five American records while winning seven events. She took more than a minute off her own world record of 21:11.87 that she set in April in the S8 1,500-meter freestyle.

She set Pan Am and U.S records in the semifinals of the 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter individual medley, then lowered them again in the finals.

Long, who recently started working out at Merritt Athletic Club in Towson to get the pool time required by USA Swimming, served as honorary grand marshal for Dundalk's Independence Day parade.

She's already gearing up for a national meet set for December in Minnesota.

"I plan to set more records there," she said, with an air of confidence but not a bit of arrogance in her voice.

Beating the clock and improving her own times is just what she expects of herself. It's not her fault that most of her personal bests also happen to be national or world records.

Oh. And the USOC's top male athlete of the month?

Some bicyclist named Lance Armstrong.