Their local connections cover the map from Isleton to Cottonwood, these five track and field athletes bound for Beijing in search of their own Olympic moment.

• Woodland's Jill Camarena awaits her first taste of the Summer Games. Amy Acuff (Isleton), Derek Miles (Citrus Heights), Stephanie Brown Trafton (Galt, above) and Nicole Teter (Cottonwood) bring Olympic experience to China, a handy tool on the grandest stage in international sports.

• Two throwers, a jumper, a vaulter and a middle-distance runner.

They're about to create memories to last a lifetime.

Amy Acuff

The tall, slender blonde isn't sure how many people in the tiny Delta town of Isleton (population 840) know she's a world-class high jumper.

But Amy Acuff, heading to the Olympic Games for a fourth time, says she's well-known for the part-time job she holds in town.

"They know me as the acupuncturist down there," said Acuff, a Texas native and former UCLA standout who moved to Isleton with her husband, pole vaulter Tye Harvey, two years ago.

"I don't know if they follow a lot of track and field. … Everybody knows me in town."

Acuff, 33, finished fourth in the 2004 Olympics in Athens after clearing 6 feet, 6 1/4 inches. This time, she hopes to stand on the medal podium.

"I'm really excited," she said. "I'd love to finally get a medal. That would really cap off the whole experience."

Acuff has won six U.S. Outdoor championships and four U.S. Indoor titles and cleared a personal-best 6-7 in 2003.

She finished second at the Olympic Trials with a 6-4 effort, part of a training cycle she hopes has her peaking in Beijing. Acuff jumped 6-4 3/4 at a meet in Stockholm two weeks ago (July 22).

"I'm think I'm at a lot better fitness level," she said. "I feel like I'm in a position to really jump higher than I did last time.

"It's just such a timing gamble to make everything peak at the right time."

If Acuff can pull that off, she'll leave Beijing feeling good.

"I would like to go back and compete at that very high level one more time," she said. "It would be very fun and rewarding."

Stephanie Brown Trafton

The view from the discus ring at National Stadium in Beijing greets Stephanie Brown Trafton from her garage wall, the 7-foot-by-8-foot picture preparing her for the real thing.

She can see the two JumboTron screens, the empty stands, the pole vault runway and pit and a foggy, white sky.

"I stand there and I look at it and pretend that I'm there," Trafton said. "It's a good training tool.

"It's really cool to see what it looks like."

Trafton enjoyed her Olympic experience in Athens, Greece. Four years later, she's on a mission to earn a medal.

The Galt resident owns the third-longest throw in the world this year, a 217-foot, 1-inch performance on May 8 in the favorable Salinas winds that stamped her as a legitimate medal contender.

Her Olympic experience can only help.

"Knowing what the energy is going to be like, I know how my body is going to react to the situation," Trafton said. "Now I can actually use that and prepare an even better performance in Beijing.

"Realistically, if I end up throwing to my potential, I could medal."

Trafton said there's a decent chance all three Americans – Trials winner Aretha Thurmond and Modesto's Suzy Powell-Roos are also on the U.S. team – could make the final.

"And once you get to the finals, really anything can happen," said Trafton, who threw 205-6 to place third at the Trials in Eugene. "Just one throw, just one big throw."

Trafton, who throws at Sacramento City College, has a history of being able to deliver that huge throw. She earned a spot on the 2004 Olympic team by finishing second with a 203-1 effort on her first throw, then a personal best by nine feet.

Her Salinas effort marked a personal record by six feet, so who knows what's in store in Beijing?

The 6-4 Trafton said she deals with the pressure of big competitions by focusing on something physical, taking pressure off the mental side.