15.05.06 – (COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – Twelve of the nation’s top female boxers have traveled to Colorado Springs, May 14-23 for a preparatory training camp before the 2006 Pan American Tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 30-June 8..
The training camp is the first of the year for the women and gives them a rare opportunity to enjoy the Olympic Training Center complex in Colorado Springs, Colo. While in the Colorado Springs, the team will take part in an extensive training camp, which will include: gym workouts, sparring, interval and lake runs, media training, video study, sports psychology, plyometrics as well as sport science.
The team is made up of ten reigning champions including four-time national champions Cheryl Houlihan (Norton, Mass.) and Elizabeth Quevado (Commerce, Calif.) who will box at the flyweight and light welterweight divisions respectively. Houlihan and Quevado will be joined by three-time light bantamweight national champion Sacred Downing (Trenton, N.J.); reigning bantamweight champion Emily Klinefelter (Iowa City, Iowa); 2006 lightweight champion Carrie Barry (Nashville, Tenn.); 2006 welterweight titlist Lisa Kuronya (Portland, Maine); 2006 light middleweight champion Akima Stocks (South Orange, N.J.); two-time middleweight champ Franchon Crews (Baltimore, Md.); reigning light heavyweight champion Chatiqua Hemingway (Pittsburgh, Pa.); and two-time heavyweight champ Tameka Stephens (Charlotte, N.C.). Pinweight runner-up Coleen Loo (Mililani, Hawaii) and featherweight silver medalist Ronica Jeffery (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will round out the 2006 Pan American team. Light flyweight national champion Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) will participate in the training camp but is too young to compete in the event in Argentina.
Coaches Christy Halbert (Nashville, Tenn.) and Willy Price (Peshtigo, Wis.) have joined USA Boxing National Coaching Director Dan Campbell (Colorado Springs, Colo.) in leading the team. Former national champion and current USA Boxing Board of Directors member Krysti Rosario (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) will serve as Team Manager for the event.
Due to a schedule change by the host federation, the team will return home for a week before departing for Buenos Aires on May 30.
USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).