INDIANAPOLIS — USA Track & Field has selected Olympic gold medalists Bryan Clay and Stephanie Brown Trafton for the Jesse Owens Awards as the sport's top American athletes in 2008.

The awards will be presented Dec. 6 in Reno, Nev., as part of the Indianapolis-based USATF's annual meeting.

Clay, a former Kaneohe resident and Castle High alum, was the Olympic champion in the decathlon, posting the two highest scores in the world this year at the Trials and at the Games in Beijing. He also was the world indoor heptathlon champion this year.

Brown Trafton was the first American woman to win the gold medal in the Olympics in the discus since 1932.