by Jim Spier

Day 1, Morning

Men

100 Meters – Round 1

(8 heats:  top 3 plus next 3 fastest times advance to the semi finals)

Gary Card, the World U20 leader (9.97) put down a marker early, running 10.07.  Marko Ferreira (Australia) ran 10.11 soon thereafter. Tate Taylor (Harlan, San Antonio, TX) finished off the 8 heats with the fastest qualifier, running 10.05.  Those who thought Gary Card to be a lock to win might have a bit of a worry now.  Ferreira ran 10.04 and 10.00 in June.

Kyler Brown (Washington, Tulsa, OK)/Ohio State was the fourth fastest qualifier at 10.19.  Jake Odey-Jordan (Samuel Clemens, Schertz, TX)/Great Britain won his heat at 10.38.  His best is 10.01 in winning the Nike Outdoor Nationals.

800 Meters – Round 1

(5 heats:  top 5 plus next 2 fastest times advance to the semi finals)

Much like the women, most of each heat advanced to the semis.  Both Americans, Stefan Dodoo (Springside Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA)/Texas A+M and Kaleb Burroughs (West Florence, Florence, SC)/South Carolina easily advanced.

The fastest time was recorded by Shafeck Murungi (Uganda) at 1:46.64, a PB.  Daniel Williams (Australia), the non-Lutkenhaus World U20 leader, was second at 1:47.47

Shot Put (6kg)  – Qualifying

(Automatic qualifying mark 63-09.5 (Q) or at least best 12 qualify to Final)

Omar Hussein (Rockwood Summit, Fenton, MO)/Arkansas State U, the World U20 leader, finished 14th here with 60-09.  The top 2 qualifiers were Aristion Anastasios Papadopoulos (Greece) and  Park si-Hoon (Korea), throwing 65-00 and 64-07 respectively, both auto qualifiers.   They are ranked 4th and 3rd in the world.  Si-Hoon is the top ranked 16 pound shot putter in the world.  Michael Kpomassy (East Moline, IL)/UTEP was the final qualifier overall, throwing 61-00.

Hammer (6kg) – Qualifying

(Automatic qualifying mark 237-10(Q) or at least best 12 qualify to Final)

Jiawei Chen (China) took the world lead with an automatic qualifier in the first round, thowing 263-09.  The prior world leader, Jan Delewski (Poland) was the second overall qualifier, also automatically, with a toss of 242-02.  Chen won Group B and Delewski Group A.

American Kayden Hulet (Debbie Smith, Reno, NV), also got an auto qualifier to finish fourth overall.  His mark of 238-11 came on his 3rd qualifying throw.  He was the only American in the competition

Javelin – Qualifying

Automatic qualifying mark 237-10 (Q) or at least best 12 qualify to Final

Like the hammer, the leader is about 20 feet ahead of the nearest competitor. 

Jan-Henrik Heymans of South Africa, the world leader at 253-00, qualified automatically on his first throw, throwing 249-05.  Next best was Ashish Yadsv (India) with 229-04.

American Nolan Carey (Corry Area, Corry, PA)/Penn State U finished 17th overall, managing only 212-02.

Women

100 Meters – Round 1

(8 heats:  top 3 plus next 3 fastest times advance to the semi finals)

No real surprises here, as both Jamaicans (world leader Shanoya Douglas and overall round 1 leader Theianna-Lee Terraonge [11.21]).  American twins Mariah and Mia Maxwell easily qualified.  The second fastest time (11.28) was by barely seventeen year old Jady Emmanuel (St. Lucia), who set her country’s U18 record with her win.

800 Meters – Round 1

(5 heats:  top 5 plus next 2 fastest times advance to the semi finals)

It was relatively easy-going as 5 of the 9 in each heat were guaranteed a spot in the semis.  Americans Paige Sheppard and Ellie Barada advanced relatively easily.  The top 2 seeds (Ziva Remic, Slovenia; Habtem Gebeyehu, Ethiopia) also advanced easily. 

Olivia Solomon (New Rochelle, NY), representing Guyana, got her country’s national U20 record as one of the 2 time qualifiers, running 2:06.55.  Aurora Bertelson del Solar, recently graduated from IMG Academy (Bradenton, FL), representing Chile did not advance.  She will be a student at Georgetown U in the fall.  Naomi Cesar (Sunset, Portland, OR), representing the Phillipines, also did not qualify.  She had finished second in the Oregon state meet in May (2:10.19).

Long Jump – Qualifying

(Auto qualifying mark of 20-10 or at least the top 12 advancing to the finals)

Throw away the experts’ projection.  Coming in the meet, the top 3 were:

21-03.5            Oluchi Abelwe Ndubueze                               South Africa
21-03.25i         Parker Coes (Morton Ranch, Katy, TX)         USA
21-03.25          Brooklyn Lyttle                                                  Belize

They all have had better days.  Lyttle finished 19th at 19-06, Coes 20th at 19-05.25, and Ndubueze 25th at 18-09. 

There was only one auto qualifier, Ella Avelin Malm (Sweden), who led the competition with a jump of 20-10.25.  Abigail Mecklenburg (Lin-Mar, Marion, IA) of the US came in with a best of 21-00.25 and finished 18th at 19-05.5.

Heptathlon (100h, HJ)

After 2 events, the leaders are Thea Brown (Great Britain, 2043 points), Natacha Cande’ (Portugal, 1979) and Zola Ndouma-Mona (France, 19.42).  Brown had the best hurdle time in the competition (13.23) and second-best high jump (5-10).

Chiora Enyinna-Okeigbo (Sunnyvale, TX) sits in 10th after events (1820) and Destiny Look (Mid-Pacific Institute, Honolulu, HI) is in 22nd with 1672 points.  Chiora will be at the U of Georgia in the fall, and Destiny will be at SMU.