National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

A blog of the experiences of Jim Spier throughout the World Juniors.

Last night - The meet ended at 8:30. We figured we had time to go to Old Town and be back in time for the last shuttle back to the hotel (10:30pm). So we took the trolley (5 stops), had a nice meal, and headed back to the trolley. We ran into USC and LSU coaches, at the meet to find athletes for their programs. We got back on the trolley and got to the shuttle stop by 10:20pm, in plenty of time for the shuttle. We were joined by two IAAF journalists from Great Britain. We waited … and waited. .. and waited, but no shuttle. At about 11:10pm we decided to find a taxi. We got back to the hotel at about 11:30. I headed to my room expecting the worst. Someone had cleaned it! They also took one of my two clean towels and my shampoo. But at least the room was clean (the first time in 3 days).

JD Miles - He's here again. JD is a 77 year old retired Navy guy who loves junior age track. I first met him in Lisbon in 1994. He had been to each World Junior Championships from 1992 to the present except for Jamaica (2002) and Grossetto (2004). It's not so much that he attends, these, but how he gets to them. As a retired serviceman, one of the benefits is to use Air Force transport planes to get to anywhere in the world, assuming there is space available. For this trip, he hitched a transport and then took a train to Bydgoszcz, about a 5 hour trip. But this was one of his easy trips. To get to Lisbon in 1994 took him a week. I don't recall the exact route, but I do know it was by way of Frankfurt and Athens, and took him a week to get there. JD grew up in Peoria, IL, but moved to California in 1951. I believe his wife is deceased, but he did meet someone recently, and he moved from California last year — to the Bronx, NY, where his new female friend lives. For those who know the Bronx, he moved to 199th Street and the Grand Concourse. He loves the NYC subway system and lives near a convenient stop in the Bronx (Most people move from the Bronx to California, not the other way aournd. But JD is a track guy, so we understand).

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Day 3 Recap for US Team

Men

200m round 1 and semifinals — Antonio Sales and Curtis Mitchell both advanced to finals

400m Final — Marcus Boyd finished first and ONeal Wilder finished third.

1500m Final — Evan Jager finished 8th.

400m Hurdles semis — Johnny Dutch and Jeshua Anderson were leading qualifiers for the final

3000m Steeple — Both Dylan Knight and Curtis Carr advanced to the finals.

Pole Vault — Maston Wallace (=3) and Joe Berry (5th) both advanced to finals.

Triple Jump — Christian Taylor (9th) and Austin Davis (7th) both qualified, and both on their last jump.

Hammer — Conor Mc Cullough third leading qualifier; Walter Henning 7th.

Decathon —

Women

200m round 1 — Tiffany Townsend and Ashton Purvis advanced to semis.

200m semis — Tiffany Townsend advanced; Ashton Purvis missed qualifying for finals by .01.

400m final — Jessica Beard finished 2nd and Lanie Whitaker finished 7th

100m Hurdles Round 1 — Teona Rodgers advanced to the semis; Vashti Thomas did not

400m Hurdles — Takeica Jameson advanced to the finals.

3000m Steeplechase final — no finalists

High Jump final — Shanay Brisco finished =10th

Triple Jump final — no finalists

Shot Put final — Chinwe Okoro finished 10th

Javelin final — no finalists

Day 4, Morning

Heptahlon 100m Hurdles Erin Sampley looked very good, running 13.89. Ryann Krais ran faster than her Great Southwest time into a slighly negative wind. Here are her projections after this event based on what she had done in the past and what would be her most optimistic performances, after one event:

Standings after one event:
1.Ryann Krais - USA - 1017
2.Erin Sampley - USA - 995
3.Natalya Gizbullina - Russia - 994

Men 110m Hurdles, Round 1 — Booker Nunley looked to be the class of the field as he and Ronald Brookins both qualified to the semis.

Women's Discus Qualifying — Anna Jelmini finished fourth in her group and will p19-19robably qualify for the final.(164-5). Erin Pendleton came through in a big way in Group B, throwing 164-5 , qualifying for the final 11th overall. After the other throws in Group B, Jelmini wound up 10th overall, as both Americans advanced to the finals.

Women's Long Jump Qualifying — neither Shakia Forbes (19-7) nor Jameisha Youngblood (19-1.25) advanced to the final.

Women's 1500m Qualifying — Alex Kosinski looked superb in winning (!) her heat. Those things are not supposed to happen in a World Junior championships (meaning, an American winning one's heat). In fact, she got a PR of 4:19.14 and looked relaxed doing so. Of course, running close to 4:10 in the final will probably be a requirement for getting a medal. In another qualifying heat, Jordan Hasay ran an intelligent race, but last week's Olympic Trials activities and the long travel (she arrived 3 days ago) seemed to take its toll. She got bumped around quite a bit and could not respond when the leading trio (she was fourth at the time) made their sprint move with 280 meters to go. She hung on for fifth, being passed down the stretch. The look on her face showed that she was hurting. However, she did qualify on time. I can't recall when two Americans have made the 1500m final (and, since there was no Junior annual this year from the IAAF, I can't easily find out).

Heptahlon High Jump - Erin Sampley no-heighted (4-11.5), so we'll see if she continues the competition. Ryann Krais jumped close to her PR of 5-8, clearing 5-7.75. If she equals or betters all of her Great Southwest marks, she projects to get the high school record by 6 points.

Ryann Krais Heptathlon Projection after High Jump

Standings after 2 events:
1. Natalya Gizbullina - Russia - 1947
2. Carolin Schafer - Germany - 1917
3. Ryann Krais - USA - 1896
4. Yana Maksimava - Belarus - 1875
5. Lea Sprunger - Switzerland - 1847