TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Five wheelchair basketball players from The University of Alabama will be heading to Brazil for the 2007 Pan Am Games.

Four UA players were named to the 2007 U.S. Paralympics Women’s Wheelchair Basketball National Team and one UA player was named to the Canadian National Team. The teams will compete at this summer’s Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro.

UA students Stephanie Wheeler of Norlina, N.C., Mary Allison Milford of Magnolia, Ark., Alana Nichols of Farmington, N.M., and Desiree Miller of Monroe, Wash., were named to the U.S. National Team; incoming UA freshman Katie Harnock of Toronto was named to the Canadian National Team.

The U.S. team was announced earlier this summer after a weekend tryout camp held at the Lakeshore Foundation in Birmingham, an official U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site, and the Canadian Team was announced after a weeklong tryout camp in Toronto.

The Parapan American Games will serve as the United States’ qualification tournament for the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China. The team must finish in the top three to earn a spot at next summer’s games.

Milford is a junior at UA and is playing on her second U.S. National Team. She traveled with the U.S. team to Japan for the Osaka Cup in February and previously made the elite U.S. National Team that has competed in international qualifying tournaments in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the Roosevelt Cup in Warm Springs, Ga.

Sophomore Miller and incoming freshman Harnock are newcomers to their respective U.S. and Canadian National Teams, while Wheeler and Nichols are veterans on the U.S. National Team. Both Wheeler and Nichols represented the United States on the 2004 U.S. Paralympic Team that won a gold medal at the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. Both players also were selected to the U.S. team that won a silver medal at last summer’s Wheelchair Basketball World Championships.

In addition to the UA students, the U.S. National team includes: Sarah Castle (Centennial, Colo./Champaign, Ill.), Patty Cisneros (Lake Station, Ind./Scottsdale, Ariz.),
Loraine Gonzales (Winnsboro, Texas/Ft. Worth, Texas), Carlee Hoffman (Cutlerville, Mich./Champaign, Ill.), Emily Hoskins (Mascoutah, Ill.), Jennifer Howitt (Orinda, Calif./Bristol, England), Becca Murray (Germantown, Wis.), and Jennifer Ruddell (Champaign, Ill.).

For more information about UA Wheelchair Basketball or the Alabama Disability Sports program go to www.uads.ua.edu.

The University of Alabama, a student-centered research university, is in the midst of a planned, steady enrollment growth with a goal of reaching 28,000 students by 2010. This growth, which is positively impacting the campus and the state's economy, is in keeping with UA's vision to be the university of choice for the best and brightest students. UA, the state's flagship university, is an academic community united in its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for all Alabamians.