Mike Kennedy's daily summary

JUNIOR NATIONALS DAY TWO

The day opened at 8:30 with two events postponed from Friday, the men's 10,000 and the women's 5,000. Conditions were almost perfect with a heavy cloud cover and temperatures in the mid 70s. The temperatures rose into the mid 80 for the midday multies completion and then dropped in to the 70s in the late afternoon and into the low 60 by late evening. All throughout the afternoon and evening there was a 5 to 10 mile per hour wind that aided the sprinters and jumpers.

MEN

100 (heats)--Ivory Williams of Central (Beaumont, Tx.), the nation's leading prep sprinter, won the first heat in a windy 10.33, two-hundredths in front of California State champion Kenny O'Neal of Skyline (Oakland), who looked like he was well on his way to bulking up for Florida State football this fall as he struggled to finish. Mark Johnson of Kent State won heat two in 10.46 but a very controlled finish by Demi Omole of Wisconsin indicated that there would be better things to come for the sprinter who has run 10.12 this year. Michael Rodgers of Lindenwood University took heat three in 11.36, with Trell Kimmons of Coldwater (Ms.) second at 10.37.
(Final)--Omole, as he had done in the heats, moved strongly over the final 30 meters to dominate the field, winning in a windy 10.12. High schoolers Williams and Kimmons were second and third at 10.30 and 10.34, respectively. O'Neal was out with the field but faded badly finishing last in 11.22.

400 (timed final)--LaShawn Merritt of Wilson (Portsmouth, Va.), the national leader at 45.36, and Reggie Witherspoon of Florida were the co-favorites in the "fast heat", but when Witherspoon dropped out just after 100 meters, Merritt won as he pleased in 46.80 with Che Chavez of TCU in second at 47.43. Keith Hinnant of Bay Shore (N.Y.) was third at 47.43 and Jason Craig of Houston in fourth at 47.65. Although they will be part of the relay pool for the 4 x 400 relay, it would appear that only Merritt has a place locked up.

800 (final)--Marcus Mayes of Missouri led the field through the 400 in 52.3 with Timothy Harris of Northwestern (Miami, Fl.) and Larry Brooks of Texas San Antonio in close attendance. Harris took the lead with 300 left and although challenged, never relinquished the lead, winning in 1:50.82. Meanwhile, Michael McGrath of Oregon overtook Mayes and held second for 798 meters only to see Mayes retake second as the two runners finished in 1:51.24 and 1:51.30.

5,000 (final)--High schoolers Galen Rupp of Central Catholic (Portland, Or.) and Joshua McDougal who is homeschooled and lives in Peru, N.Y. broke from the field early and ran together until Rupp, who set a national high school record in the 3,000 earlier this week, pulled away for an easy win,14:16.21.0 to 14:24.88. Sophomore Diego Mercado of West Covina finished seventh in 15:20.57 while twin brother Daniel dropped out midway through the race.

10,000 (final)-- Georgetown ’s James Hower was the winner at 31:21.13 in the morning contest over Williams and Mary’s Keith Bechtol 31:24.33, with La Salle’s Sean Quigley next at 31:33.58.

400 HURDLES (final)--Brandon Johnson of UCLA, who ran 48.85 win the Pac-10 championships, used a very quick start to dominate the field, winning in 49.58. Florida's Kerron Clement, looking sluggish, was second in 50.86. The only two preps in the field , Julius Giles of Central (Kansas City, Mo.) and Kevin Craddock of James Logan (Union City, Ca.), both of whom are used to running 300 hurdles, were eighth and ninth in 54.73 and 56.50.

POLE VAULT (final)--Chip Hauser of Florida won at 16-4 3/4 with Andrew Rademacher of Hickory (Hershey, Pa.) and Glenn Brandon of Arizona St. tied for second at 16-0 3/4. As of now the tie has not been broken. Sophomore Ryan Shuler of Granite Bay (Ca.), runner-up in the state meet, tied for sixth at 15-9.

SHOTPUT (final)--Justin Clickett of Pittsburgh took the lead in the first round with a put of 62-6 3/4 with the junior 6-kilo implement (slightly heavier than the HS shoot) only to see Corey Martin of Auburn University move into first with a 63-10 3/4 effort in the fifth round and then finish with a winning put of 64-11 1/4. Mark Lewis of Arroyo Grande (Ca.) was the highest finishing prep in seventh at 58-11 1/4.

JAVELIN (final)—Brian Harris Washington popped at 211-5 in the first round and Andrew Vogelsberg of Emporia St. and threw 209-2 in the second round and the two maintained their positions until the sixth round when Mark Taylor of Ruston (La.) grabbed the lead for keeps with a 214-11 effort.

DECATHLON (NOT FINISHED AT 11 P.M.)

WOMEN

100 (heats)--With a steady wind at their backs, you just knew the times would be fast---and they were. Allyson Felix, who turned pro out of high school, easily won the first heat in 11.39 with a 2.9 aiding wind. Jasmine Baldwin of Bishop Amat (La Puente, Ca.) took the second heat easily in 11.55 with a 4.1 wind but only after Krystin Lacy of Skyline (Dallas, Tx.), who was even with Baldwin at 50 meters, fell to the track with a cramp. Shalonda Solomon of Poly (Long Beach, Ca.), the defending champion and Cleo Tyson of Huntsville (Tx.), the State 4-A champ, hooked up in a classic due that saw Solomon win only in the final strides, 11.32 to 10.25, with a slightly aiding wind of 2.3. However the best was saved for last as the "pocket rocket", Ashley Owens of Liberty (Colorado Springs, Colo.), under the skillful tutelage of veteran coach Tony Wells, got out well and easily pulled away from the field winning easily in a windy 11.29. Lauren Austin of Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fl.) was a surprising second in 11.51.
(Final)--There was not a whole lot of mystery, at least at the front end. Owens was going to get out and it was just a question if anyone could catch up. The short answer was No. Owens jumped the field with a monster start and by 30 she held a four meter advantage. Felix closed some in the final stages but could not recover completely, losing 11.12 to 11.23, in a race aided by a 2.5 wind. Among high schoolers all-time, only Angela Williams of Chino (Ca.) at 10.98w, 11.10w and 11.11 has run faster under all conditions. Two other runners have run 11.12w, Felix and Marion Jones of Rio Mesa (Oxnard, Ca.). Pretty exclusive company. Behind the top two, competition was very tight with Solomon third at 11.36, Baldwin fourth at 11.37 and Tyson fifth at 11.39. In five meetings this year between Solomon and Baldwin, the time differences have been amazing:

Trabuco Hills--Both 11.60, Baldwin winning
Arcadia--Solomon, 11.40 to 11.44
Southern Section Final--Baldwin, 11.43 to 11.44
California State--Baldwin, 11.33 to 11.41
Jr. Nationals--Solomon, 11.36 to 11.37

Tianna Madison of Tennessee, who later in the evening was to win the long jump with a legal 21-8 effort, was sixth at 11.44 and multiple Georgia State high school champion Courtney Champion of Collins Hill (Suwanee) was seventh in 11.56.

400 (final)--Natasha Hastings of A.P. Randolph (N.Y.C., N.Y.), Ashlee Kidd of Georgia Tech and Deonna Lawrence of Sheldon (Sacramento, Ca.) were leading at just past 200 meters and then were joined by a hard charging Stephanie Smith of South Carolina coming into the straightaway. It was at that point that Kidd and Hastings broke free of the pack and finished as one, with Kidd the winner, 52.91 to 52.92. Smith held on for third and Alexandria Anderson of Morgan Park (Chicago, Il.) got up for fourth.

800 (final)--Leslie Treherne of Tennessee led at the break and shortly there after Mackenzie Pierce of Forsyth Country Day (Lewisville, N.C.) fell to the infield. It marked the third straight race that Pierce had fallen and failed to finish. Trisa Nickoley of Shawnee Heights (Tacomseh, Kn.) had the lead at 400 in 61.3 and then pushed the third 200 but was unable to hold off first high school freshman Devon Williams of Towson Catholic (Towson, Md.) and then sophomore Latavia Thomas of West Catholic (Philadelphia, Pa.). Coming into the final straight Williams held a small lead but Thomas, who won at Arcadia earlier in the year, reeled Williams in and won going away, 2:07.75 to 2:08.11. Nickoley held on for third in 2:10.18, just in front of Treherne.

5,000-- The women's 5,000 final, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. Friday night, but rescheduled for Saturday morning at 9:05, was run under almost ideal conditions. With a heavy cloud cover and temperatures in the low 70's Caitlin Chock of Granite Bay took off at a torrid pace passing 3,000 meters in 9:37.0 and 3,200 at in 10:15.5 before winning the race in a new high school record of 16:10.60 (you will have to check web site for 100s) the old mark was 16:13.7 set by Mary Shea of Cardinal Gibbons (Raleigh, N.C.) in 1979. Cathy Schiro of Dover, N.H. ran a faster time of 16:00.4 in 1985 but that was in a mixed gender race.

3000 STEEPLECHASE (final)—Selina Sekulic of Wake Forest and Amber Harper of BYU will represent the U.S. in the first women’s steeplechase at world junior championships. The two dominated the latter half of the race. Lindsay Allen of College Park (Pleasanton, Ca.) was third in 10:40.62 to break the two-year old national high school record of 10:49.63 set by Jenney Aldridge of Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa, Ca.). Laura Meyers of Columbia and a graduate of Maranatha (Pasadena, Ca.) was with the leaders early on and finished fifth in 11:12.14.

400 HURDLES (final)--Very formful affair. With the wind blowing against the runners on the back stretch, the race developed cautiously and the two runners with the most 400-meter hurdling experience prevailed. Christina Smith of Clemson took the early lead and was first joined and then passed by Penn Relays champion Nicole Leach of West Catholic (Philadelphia, Pa.), who won easily, 58.48 to 59.53. Chiquita Martin of South Carolina was among the leaders the entire way and finished third in 60.31. Talia Stewart of James Logan (Union City, Ca.) moved in the middle half of the race, but could not hold on to fourth being passed by Mackenzie Hill of UCLA, who closed well to finish in 60.32.

HIGH JUMP (final)—Sharon Day of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (Ca.) needed a third-try clearance at 6-0 ¾ to defeat Inika McPherson of Memorial (Port Arthur, Tx.), who had no misses through 5-11½. Debra Vento of Duke was third at 5-10 ½.

LONG JUMP (final)—Tianna Madison of Tennessee leaped a slightly wind-aided 21-2 ¼ in the first round and that would have been good enough to win. But after passing her fifth-round jump, she came back in the final round to post a personal best and legal 21-8 with a 1.8 meters-per-second wind at her back. Amy Menlove of BYU also got a personal best with a legal 21-1 ½ in the third round. Brittany Daniels of Merrill West (Tracy, Ca.), better known as a triple jumper, got off a personal best of 20-8 with an over-the-allowable wind of 3.3 mps, but achieved got a legal best of 20-7 ¾ to move into a tie for second on the yearly high school list. Michelle Sanford of USC was fourth at 20-4¼. Shelese Ruffin of Beaumont (Ca.) got a legal personal best of 19-10 ¼ to finish seventh.

HAMMER (final) -- In an event dominated by college freshman, Kristen Callan of Virginia Poly won with a first-round toss of 193-11 and Laci Heller of Kansas St. was second at 181-7, also recorded in the first round.

JAVELIN (final)—Mallory Webb of Fresno St. had a first round effort of 151-4, which was good enough to win, but then got her best of 154-0 on the final throw of the competition. Ruby Radocaj of Williamsport (Pa.) was second at 150-7 and Rachel Yerkovich of Newburg (Or.) was third at 147-8.

HEPTATHLON (after first day, 4 events)—Gayle Hunter of J.W. North (Riverside, Ca.) turned in three solid performances, winning the high jump at 5-7 ¼ and the 200 in 24.78 and finishing second in the 100 high hurdles in 14.04. She was 10th in the shot put at 30-6 ¼ and scored 3,231 points after the first day. Hillary Werth of Glenwood (Chatham, Il.), who won the 100 hurdles in a personal best of 13.95, was second with 3,156 points. Molly Kennedy of Brentwood Academy (Brentwood, Tn.), who scored 4,941 points at the Great Southwest, was third with 3,130 and Mandy Stille of Delaware was fourth with 3,108 points.