NATIONAL JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY THREE 6/27/04 - Mike Kennedy

For the third straight day, low hanging clouds, periods of occasional sun, wind and finally rain, thunder and lightning all took their turn in an ever changing weather picture.

MEN

200 (heats)—LaShawn Merritt of Tennessee at 20.94), Ivory Williams of Central (Beaumont, Tx.) at 21.11 and Carey La Cour of Houston at 21.07 were all easy heat winners. Marcus Pugh of Jenks (Okla.) at 21.24 won a close battle with Michael Rodgers of Lindenwood at 21.38 and Ronald Robertson of Washington St. at 21.39 in the remaining heat. In the final, Merritt was in control the entire time winning easy in a personal best of 20.72. LaCour just edged Pugh, 20.99 to 21.03 but both will run the 200 at the World Junior meet in Grosetto, Italy as Merritt will drop the 200, where he would have been matched against junior record holder Usian Bolt of Jamaica, who has run 19.93. Instead Merritt will concentrate on the 400, where he has run 45.36.

1,500—This race was no contest at David Torrance of California, who prepped at Loyola High in Los Angeles and was one of just two runners in the race who had met the World junior qualifying time of 3:48.00, led from wire to wire, winning in 3:51.36. Michael Kerrigan was second in 3:53.79 and Jonathan Thomas of Texas A&M was third in 3:53.85. Russell Brown of Stanford was seventh in 3:59.89 but will be the second qualifier for Grosetto since he is the only other runner with the qualifying standard.

3,000 STEEPLECHASE (final)—Kyle Alcorn of Oregon and Derek Scott of Cornerstone College, the only two runners who have meet the World Junior meet qualifying standard, took control of the race at the midway point and finished in that order, with times of 9:10.37 and 9:13.54, respectively. Charles Hampton of Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Az.) was the first prep, finishing third in 9:15.78.

110 HIGH HURDLES (heats)—Jason Richardson of Cedar Hill (Tx.) ran 14.57 to win the first heat in a close battle with Ronnie Beard, who finished second at 14.59. Kevin Craddock of James Logan (Union City, Ca.), the California State champion dominated the second heat winning in 14.01 while pre-meet favorite Aries Merritt of Tennessee, who ran 13.47 in the NCAA final, won heat three easily in 13.61. (Final)—This quickly developed into a two-man race with first Craddock holding a slight advantage before being overtaken by Aries who was passed by Craddock in the last two meters. Craddock’s time of 13.83 is a junior class record, breaking his own record of 13.97 and ranks only behind Richardson’s mark of 13.76 set earlier this year. Although making the final, Richardson, who was slightly injured in last weeks Adidas Outdoor championships, did not run the final.

HIGH JUMP (final)—Matt Carter of Santa Ana College, last year (2003 grad) at El Modena High in Orange (Ca.) scored a major upset in winning with a World Junior Championship qualifying mark of 7-0½. Norris Frederick of Roosevelt (Seattle, Wa.) was ninth at 6-7 but since he is the only other person in the competition who has meet the WJC standard of 7-0½. He will be going to Italy. Frederick also finished seventh in the long jump at 23-5 ¼ but since he was the only competitor who had the WJC qualifying standard of 24-9 ¼ he will complete in the long jump as well.

TRIPLE JUMP (final, late Saturday)—Paul Hubbard of Wisconsin, had just two fair jumps but one of them was 51-5 3.4 and that was good enough for the win. Kenneth Hall a junior at Tara (Baton Rouge, La.), the leading prep jumper in the nation at 51-8 ¾, was second at 51-1. Both jumps were wind aided. Californian’s Michael Johnson of Rancho Cucamonga was 14th at 48-1 ¼ and Nkosinza Balumbu of James Logan (Union City) was 15th at 47-10½.

DISCUS (final)—Robert McDade of Villanova, in fourth with just one throw remaining cranked out a 192-0 to win the competition with the 1.75-kilo implement, just slightly heavier then the 1.5-kilo high school discus and lighter then the 2-kilo senior platter. Jens Kujacznski of Los Altos AA was second at 190-4 and high schooler Christopher Rohr of North (Lee’s Summit, Ark.) was third at 189-4. Ed Cornell of Burroughs (Ridgecrest, Ca.) was fifth at 184-9 and Greg Garza of UCLA was ninth at 177-1.

DECATHLON (final, last Saturday)—Collegiates Chris Helwick and Jangy Addy, both of Tennessee, were one-two with scores of 7,358 and 7,102. Adam Fretwell of Cypress Creek (Houston, Tx.) was third at 7.045.

WOMEN

200 (heats)—Jasmine Baldwin of Bishop Amat (La Puente, Ca.) at 23.48, Shalonda Solomon of Poly (Long Beach, Ca.) at 23.15, Shana Cox, completing unattached, at 23.86 and Allyson Felix (adidas) at 23.07 dominated each of their heats. (Final)—Felix and Solomon were both out well with Felix establishing early dominance and Solomon running a very strong straightaway to finish one-two in 22.79 and 23.03, respectively. Cox just held off Baldwin for third, 23.31 to 23.35—a result that became all the more important when Felix announced that she would pass the World Junior Championships in favor of the U.S. Olympic trials, thus making Cox the second individual qualifier in the 200. Felix’s decision also means that Solomon will run both the 100 and 200 in Italy. The unlucky Baldwin, fourth in both the 100 and 200, will nevertheless be on the team as a relay member. It is a cinch that no other country in the world will have a runner of that caliber (best of 11.33 and 22.86) running just the relays.. In fact., Jamaica is likely the only country in the world, other than the U.S., that has any runner with those times.

1,500 (final)— One year ago Jessica Eldridge was a senior at Broken Arrow (Okla.) high school with best of 2:10.72 and 4:54.23. Now she is on her way to the World Junior championships with a chance to become the first-ever runner to make a 1,500 final. Eldridge, with a best of 4:18.30, took control of the race with fractions of 69.0, 2:28.3 and 3:29.0 before finishing of with a time of 4:21.13. Sarah Bowman of Fauquier (Warrenton, Va.), who had the best 800 time for a U.S. junior at 2:04.94 but chose the 1,500, was second in 4:23.36 to better the WJC qualifying standard of 4:25.00. Erin Bedell of West (Plano, Tx.) was third in 4:26.62 as the top three remained in that order for the final two laps.

3,000 (final)—Tia Ferguson of Seabury Hall (Makawao, Hi.) and Laura Cummings of Bay Shore (N.Y.) ran one-two for almost the entire way and finish in that order in 9:44.54 and 9:46.87. The time was just over 15 seconds than the 9:30.00 needed to qualify for the WJC. Sophomore Meredith Snow of Eureka (Mo.) was a solid third in 9:57.73 and Liza Pasciuto of Murrieta Valley (Murrieta, Ca.) was fifth at 10:29.75 in an all-high school field.

100 HIGH HURDLES (heats)—Ronetta Alexander of South Carolina at 13.51, Alexis Rogers of Cypress-Fairbanks (Houston, Tx.) at 13.72, Santia Moss of Pompano Beach (Fl.) at 13.64 and Tiffany Nesfield of C.H. Flowers (Springdale, Md.) at 13.91 were all easy heat winners. (Final)—Alexander won in a personal best of 13.22 but it was far from easy as Moss kept the pressure on the a 13.39, also a personal best and the fastest legal time in the nation for a high schooler. Amy Manlove of BYU, who was second to Moss in the heat, was third in 13..54. Rogers equaled her person best with a 13.62 for fourth and Talia Stewart of James Logan (Union City), the California State champion with a windy 13.31, was fifth at 13.83.

POLE VAULT (final)—Jenny Green of Nebraska with just two clearances at 12-5½ and 13-1½, was an easy winner. Stevie Marshalek of Washington finished second but she was very fortunate in that clearance as the bar rattled and bounced on the pegs before staying on. Southern Californian’s Brittani Bernhard, competing unattached, Whitney Johnson of Mission Viejo and freshman Allison Stokke of Newport Harbor (Newport Beach) finished tied for third at 12-1½.

TRIPLE JUMP (final)—After the first flight Yvette Lewis, competing unattached, was the leader at 43-0½. Erica McLain of East (Plano, Tx.), jumping second in the second flight moved into second with a 43-0 effort and Lauren Stewart of Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, Tn.) jumped 42-5 in the second round to move into third place. Meanwhile Brittany Daniels of Merrill West (Tracy), the California state champion who entered the competition with a wind-aided best of 44-8 and a legal best of 44-0, had been quite with a long foul and a legal jump of 41-0. Then in the third round, the tall and powerfully built high school junior bounded down the runway and by the time she had finished the the step phase of her jump it was clear that something big was on the cards and when she stretched out her landing and bounded out of the pit it was just a question of how far she had jumped. Turning to the officials at the takeoff board she awaited their judgment and when she heard 13.71 and then the more familiar imperial measurement of 44-11 she raised her right hand in triumphant jubilation, realizing she had just broken the national high school record of 44-2 ¼ set by Ychlindria Spears of Luling (Tx.), set in 2001. The mark, remeasured with a steal tape at 44-11 ¾, is also a U.S. Junior record breaking the mark of 44-6 ¾ set by Wendy Brown of Southern California in 1985. The jump, with a legal wind of 1.4, took place at the same time as a fast-moving rain storm with wind up to 20 m.p.h. moved over the stadium. The final two jump of the third round were completed and then competition was stopped for an hour before the finals were begun. However, one competitor failed to show—Daniels. It was later learned that since she had met the U.S. Olympic Trials A standard, one of only two athletes to do so, she would turn down a birth on the World Junior team in favor of competing in the U.S. Trials. It would be interesting to know if the Daniels camp was aware the the U.S. Trials A standard of 44-5 ½ is not the same as the Olympic Games A standard of 46-7¼. Even if she were to win the U.S. trials she would have to jump 45-11¼ to meet the Olympic Games B standard. If she did not win the competition she would need the A standard to go to Athens.. So it would seem that she has chosen to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials where she will get three or at best six jumps in the triple jump and hope she by at least a foot and maybe as much as two feet to gain a spot in Athens vs. a birth on the World Junior team with a real change to medal (possibly gold) in Italy. In the finals, minus Daniels, McLain moved from third to second, in front of Lewis, with a fourth round effort of 43-7 ¾ and Stewart, also in the fourth round, improved to 42-6 ¼ to move into 14th on the all-time high school list. Michelle Sanford of USC finished sixth at 41-10 ½ and Angela Brazley of the Southern Calif. Cheetahs was 13th at 38-6 3/4.

SHOTPUT (final)—The winner was never in doubt, once national high school record holder Michelle Carter of Texas was declared the only question was the margin of victory in this case she won by more than three feet with a put of 53-7. Missy Faubus of Centennial (Bakersfield, Ca.), who had won the discus, was in second after three rounds with a put of 49-7, just one-quarter inch off her personal best. That held up until the fifth round when Michaela Wallerstedt of Burke (Omaha, Nb.) up her personal best to 50-3½ to move into second. Megan Howard of Arroyo Grande was fifth at 48-0¾.

HEPTATHLON (final)—After the first day Gayle Hunter was in the lead with 3,231 points but the real question was could she get the 5,274 points necessary to qualify for the World Junior championships. In the fifth event of the day, the long jump, she was on the board with her first jump and cashed in a 19-9½ jump for 859 points and things began to look very bright. Then she got off a fair throw of 110-2 in the javelin, worth 545 points and needed an effort of just under 2:35 in the final event the 800 to cash in her ticket to Grosetto. Running cautiously, she finished fourth in 2:30.02 worth 693 points to total 5,328 points for the seven events to win the competition. The mark also moved her to fifth on the all-time high school list. Hillary Werth of Glenwood (Chatham, Il.) improved by over 600 points to grab second with 5,127 to move into 13th on the all-time high school list. Molly Kennedy of Hume Fogg (Nashville, Tn.) was third at 4,988, sophomore Shana Woods of Poly (Long Beach, Ca.) was fifth at 4,854, Tifini Grimes of St. Francis (Sacramento, Ca.) was seventh at 4,673 and Shevell Quigley of Merrill West (Tracey, Ca.) was 11th at 4,517.