8/20/04 - Session #2 Athens Games

Women’s 100, men’s 400m runners sweep to next rounds

ATHENS - Led by a pair of 20-year-old collegians, Team USA's 100m sprinters and 400m specialists advanced their complete contingents to Saturday's rounds during Friday night's session at Olympic Stadium.

It was a busy day of early-round competition, with the men's 10,000m serving as the only final. In that race, Dan Browne (Beaverton, Ore) placed 12th in 28:14.53, and Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.) was 15th in 28:26.26. Dathan Ritzenhein (Boulder, Colo.), who has suffered from a stress fracture in his leg since early this summer, did not finish. Browne, who will compete in the marathon on August 29, and Abdirahman ran in the top 10 for the first five laps of the race before Ethiopians took control of the race.

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele seized the race when it most counted. The world record holder streaked to the lead in what appeared to be an all-out sprint 450 meters from the finish, but he held that pace over the final lap to win in an Olympic-record time of 27:05.10. Countryman Sileshi Sihine was second in 27:09.39, with Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea third in a national-record time of 27:22.57. Two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Haile Gebrselassie, running injured, was fifth in 27:27.70.

Team USA fared best in Friday night's qualifying rounds. Lauryn Williams, the 20-year-old NCAA champion from Miami, led teammates LaTasha Colander (Garner, N.C.) and Gail Devers (Duluth, Ga.) into the Saturday's semifinal round of the women's 100 meters. Williams was last out of the blocks in heat 2 with a reaction time of .214, but she came on strong to win in 11.03 for the second-fastest time of the day. Colander qualified by placing third in heat 4 in 11.20, while Devers advanced on time, placing fourth in the first heat in 11.31 and making the cut as the last of 16 qualifiers. As she did in the first round, Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus had the fastest time of the round, 10.99 in heat 4.

Saturday's semifinal of the men's 400m likewise will have three Americans. Jeremy Wariner (Waco, Texas - 45.56 in heat 6) and Derrick Brew (Baton Rouge, La. - 45.41 in heat 4) won their heats, and Otis Harris (Columbia, S.C.) was second in heat 2 in 45.11. The 20-year-old Wariner looked especially impressive, running controlled but several meters ahead of the field and slowing nearly to a job in the final meters.

Sunday's men's high jump final will feature an American duo as Jamie Nieto (Chula Vista, Calif.) needed just three jumps - first-attempt clearances at 2.20m/7-2.5, 2.25m/7-4.5 and 2.28m/7-5.75 - to automatically qualify. Matt Hemingway (Littleton, Colo.) also cleared 2.20 and 2.25 on his first attempts, then made 2.28 on his final try. Tora Harris (College Park, Ga.) cleared 2.15m/7-0.25 and did not advance.

The American pair of Jearl-Miles Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Nicole Teter (Palo Alto, Calif.) will run in Sunday's semifinal of the women's 800 meters. Miles-Clark, the Olympic Trials champion, was second in heat 3 in 2:01.33, and Teter was third in heat 5 in 2:01.16. After leading through 400m, Hazel Clark (Knoxville, Tenn.) was fifth in heat 6 in 2:05.67 and did not advance.

In the heptathlon, Michelle Perry (Los Angeles) threw 11.28m/37-0.25 in the shot put for 614 points, but came back with a personal-record time of 22.91 - her third PR in four events on the day - for 1,088 points. She concluded day 1 as the top American, 7th with 3,721 points. Shelia Burrell (Chula Vista, Calif.) threw 13.14m/43-1.5 in the shot (737 points) and ran 24.06 in the 200 (975) to bring her day-end point total to 3,666, in 12th place.

The heptathlon was nearly a Greek tragedy for Tiffany Lott-Hogan (Pleasant Grove, Utah). In heat 2 of the 200, Lott Hogan was in the blocks and gestured to be allowed to come up. A moment later, the gun went off, and the race went on with Lott-Hogan still holding her hand in the air.

After pleading with the trackside officials, she was re-inserted into the fifth and final heat, where she finished in 24.99 seconds for 888 points. Earlier in the evening she had thrown the shot 14.43m/47-4.25 for 823 points, and she finished the day in 16th place with 3,634 points. Carolina Kluft of Sweden maintained a sizeable lead with 4,109 points, well ahead of Kelly Sotherton of Great Britain in second with 3,869.

The men's 1,500m rounds looked to be on its way to tragedy when all three runners initially appeared to have failed to qualify for the semifinal. In the first heat, 2003 USA outdoor champion Grant Robison (Mountain View, Calif.) got tangled up in the early stages of the race and fell as a result. He was not able to fully recover from the mishap and finished 11th in 3:53.66.

Battling a tightly packed group and running much of the race in the middle of the second lane, Alan Webb (Fairfax, Va.) in the second heat nearly tripped with 125 meters to go as he attempted to move up from near the back of the pack. The 2004 Olympic Trials champion was unable to find his final gear after a tactical and physical race, placing placed ninth in 3:41.25. His was the 25th fastest time of the day, but only 24 runners advanced. Charlie Gruber (Lawrence, Kan.) took a lesson from his compatriots' rough-and-tumble experiences in the pack and led through the first 1100 meters of heat 3. Leading duties took their toll in the final 400 meters, and he placed ninth in 3:41.73.

Later than evening, Robison was reinstated into Sunday's semifinal in accordance with IAAF Rule 163.2, which states that a runner who is seriously affected by an obstruction can compete in the next round.

The women's discus will have no Americans in the final, as Aretha Hill (Opelika, Ala.) was 19th in qualifying with a best throw of 58.82m/193-0, and Stephanie Brown (Oceano, Calif.) was 22nd with a throw of 58.54m/192-1. Seilala Sua (Anaheim, Calif.) fouled all three of her attempts and had no mark.

Marla Runyan (Eugene, Ore.) was America's top finisher in the women's 5,000m heats, placing ninth in heat 1 in 15:24.88. Shalane Flanagan (Chapel Hill, N.C.) was 11th in heat 2 in 15:34.63, and Shayne Culpepper (Lafayette, Colo.) was 13th in the first heat in 15:40.02. None of the three advanced to the semifinal.