by Jim Spier

Men

100 Meters Final

Gary Card (Jamaica) was the favorite coming in, he with a best of 9.97.  But Tate Taylor (Harlan, San Antonio, TX) looked good in the semis and count mount a challenge.  If he could get a decent start in the final, he would have an excellent chance to win.

Earlier, I  noted that Marko Ferreira (South Africa) also looked good in the semis and could be dangerous.

Tate beat Card out of the blocks (.138 reaction time to Card’s .142).  From then on it was the Tate Taylor show.  His 9.94 was the number 5 performance all time (he had run 9.92 as a junior last year).  Card was second in 10.05 and Ferreira third in 10.16.  Those three were significantly ahead of the rest of the field.  Kyler Brown (Ohio State) was 4th in 10.29.  Jake Odey-Jordan (Great Britain) who did not look as sharp as he had in winning the Nike Outdoor Nationals (10.01) in June, was fifth in 10.31.

400 Meters Semi-Final

(First 3 of each heat (Q) qualify to Final)

Quincy Wilson (Bullis, Potomac, MD) and Jayden DeLeon (Montgomery Blair, Silver Spring, MD) both won their heats, winning in 45.02 and 45.39 respectively.  The other heat winner was Leendert Koekemoer (South Africa) at 45.18.  He could spoil the U.S. medal sweep hopes.  All of the nine finalists ran 46.00 or better in these semis.

1500 Meters Men Round 1

(First 5 of each heat (Q) qualify to Final)

Nate Stadtlander (Meridian, ID)/Oklahoma State U finished sixth in his heat, running 3:45.65 and missing the final by .01.  Henry Dixon (Foothills Eastern, Ada, MI)/U of Michigan ran 3:47.26, finishing third in his heat and advancing to the final.

Pole Vault Qualification

(Automatic qualifying mark 17-06.5 (Q) or at least best 12 qualify to Final)

Ten athletes cleared 17-02.5 and another two at 16-09. 

Jaxon Jerebek (IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL) and  Isaiah Whittaker (Central Catholic, Bloomington, IL) both clear 5.25 and will move on to the final.  Both cleared 17-02.5 on their second attempt.

Women

100 Meters Final

Shanoya Douglas (Jamaica) looked to be the winner on paper, but Mia Maxwell (Atascocita, Humble, TX) had other ideas.  Douglas actually had a slightly better start in this final, but could not finish as well as Mia.  Mia got the win, 11.14 to 11.17.  Twin Mariah took fifth in 11.35.

A big surprise in third was Kelly Ann Maevane Doualla Edimo of Italy.  She did not seem to be a factor coming into the meet (or even into the heats and semis) but did get the bronze, running 11.27.  We (I) should have done a bit more research later discovering  that she is the European U18 champion and Italian U18 and U20 record holder.  She is also the European U18 record holder and has a best of 11.14.

400 Meters Semi-Final

(First 3 of each heat (Q) qualify to Final)

Ataja-Stephane Vazquez (Southeast Guilford, Greensboro, NC) is the class of field, leading all qualifiers with 51.76.  Anastazja Kus (Poland) was the second fastest at 52.43.  Kus has a best of 51.64 and could be a factor in the final.  Tianna Springer (Guyana) who was part of the U of Georgia’s second place NCAA 4x400 meter relay team, ran 52.48 and Clara Adams (Wilson, Long Beach, CA) had the fourth best time, clocking 52.81.

1500 Meters Round 1

First 5 of each heat (Q) qualify to Final

Claire Stegall (Nolensville, TN)/U of Florida and Ellery Lincoln (Lincoln, Portland, OR) both finished second in their heats and advanced to the final.  Claire ran 4:13.09, the fourth fastest time overall, with Ellery running 4:19.06.  Both ran controlled and intelligent races.

Long Jump Final

There were no Americans in the final.  France took the gold and bronze (Djelika Diarra and Soudatou Niang).  They jumped 21-04.5 and 20-09.5 respectively.  Second was Evelyn Mitropoulou at 21-01.5

Discus Final

Su Yixin (China) took the early lead, throwing 194-08 on her first throw, very close to her PR of 195-00.  World leader Jaslene Massey (Alisa Niguel, Aliso Viejo, CA) moved into second in round 4, throwing 184-04.  Massey improved to 191-07 in the final round, the next to last throw of the competition.  Su was then the champion, but improved to 200-04 on her final throw, taking the world U20 lead away from Jaslene Massey.

Shot Put Final

The minute that Jaslene Massey finished the discus competition she moved over to the shot put competition.  She was the only athlete who had made both the shot put and discus throw finals.

As expected, it was not an ideal situation, and Jaslene could only manage 51-03.25 for 8th place. 

The winner was US educated Jessica Oji (Livingston HS, NJ)/Nigeria who won with a toss of 59-03.75.