Faces In The Crowd

Gail Jette
MIDDLEBURY, VT.
Jette, 60, the field hockey coach at Middlebury High, guided the Tigers to the Vermont Class I title for a seventh time, a state record in field hockey. Middlebury beat Rutland High 1-0 to cap a 16-0-1 season that included 15 shutouts. In Jette's 32 years, the Tigers are 321-63-67.

Charles Howell
AUGUSTA
Charles, a senior at Westminster Prep, was named the 1996 American Junior Golf Association's male player of the year. In 1996 he has won four national junior titles, was runner-up at the U.S. Junior and lost to Tiger Woods 3 and 1 in the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur. He will play at Oklahoma State.

Melanie Bodlak
DONIPHAN, NEB.
Melanie, 16, set four U.S. girls' age 16-17 powerlifting records in the 116-pound class at the Cornhusker State Games, where she was named Athlete of the Year. Her marks came in the squat (277.5 pounds), bench-press (120), deadlift (285) and overall (682.5) competitions.

Dedric Ward
CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
Ward, a senior receiver at Northern Iowa, moved into second in career Division I-AA receiving yards, with 3,876, after he gained 214 yards on seven catches during a 34-19 win over Indiana State. The division's alltime leader, Jerry Rice, had 4,693 yards at Mississippi Valley State from 1981 to '84.

Bill Bell
PALM DESERT, CALIF.

Lesley Cens-McDowell
WEST CHESTER, PA.

Bell, a 74-year-old retired aeronautical engineer, and Cens-McDowell, 50, a personal trainer, each won an age group at the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. Bell, the only finisher among 11 septuagenarians who started the event (which includes a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run) completed his 13th Ironman, in 16:45:24. He has also done 147 marathons and 200 other triathlons. Cens-McDowell, in the women's age 50-54 category, finished her 11th Ironman, in 11:11:19, 80 minutes ahead of runner-up Cherie Gruenfeld, 52, of Blue Jay, Calif. Cens-McDowell broke her age-group record by 42 minutes.