MELBOURNE, Australia (February 25, 2012) – The 2012 ISU Short Track Junior World Championships continued in Melbourne today with competition in the ladies and men’s 500m and the relay semifinals.

Team USA’s men – John-Henry Krueger (Pittsburgh, PA), James Rodowsky (Annapolis, MD), Adam Callister (Salt Lake City, UT) and Claude Gilbert (Spring Valley, NY) – took 2^nd in their relay semifinal with a time of 4:07.428, qualifying the squad for tomorrow’s final round. Korea won the semifinal with a time of 4:04.194. Team USA will face Korea, China and Hungary in tomorrow’s final.

Gilbert, Krueger and Rodowsky skated the 500m for Team USA. Gilbert and Rodowsky skated through to the heats, but did not advance to the quarterfinals. Krueger advanced through to the semifinals, but skated a 42.342 to take 4^th in his heat, and did not advance to the finals.

In the ladies 500m, Sarah Chen (San Marino, CA), Sally Chea (Midlothian, VA), and Kendal Pumphrey (San Clemente, CA) took the ice for Team USA. All three ladies advanced from their preliminary heats, with Chen winning her heat with a time of 46.834.

Chen took 4^th in her next round heat, and Pumphrey took 3^rd, neither skater advanced to the quarterfinals. Chea had the 3^rd fastest time in her heat and qualified for the quarterfinals, but did not advance to the semifinals after taking 3^rd in her quarterfinal heat.

The ladies relay team – Chen, Pumphrey, Chea, and Jacqueline Chen (San Marino, CA) -  took 3^rd in their relay semifinal (4:28.705), finishing behind Korea (4:11.997) and Russia (4:24.080). With their 3^rd place finish, the ladies did not advance to tomorrow’s relay final.

Extended results from today’s competition in Melbourne are available at http://www.sportresult.com/federations/ISU/ShortTrack/. Racing continues tomorrow, beginning at 4pm (MST) with the ladies and men’s 1000m, 1500m super final and the relay finals.