Day Five Report from World Youth Championships

by Jim Spier

 

200m Final - Girls

Ariana Washington (Poly, Long Beach, CA) knew she’d have her “hands full” with world leader Irene Ecklund of Sweden.  Ecklund got out first and took the lead early.  Ariana could not match her and gained no ground.  Ecklund’s 22.92 is #8 all-time youth.  Meanwhile, Angela Tenorio of Ecuador was coming up on Ariana’s inside and got a PB 23.13 for the silver.  Ariana hung on for the bronze with 23.20, .02 off her personal best.  Hannah Cunliffe (Federal Way, WA), stuck in lane 8, came on strong the last half of the race to finish 4th in a PB 23.44.

Pole Vault Final – Boys

Devin King (Sumner, Kentwood, LA) cleared his first attempt at his opening height of 15-7.  Paulo Benavides (Franklin, El Paso, TX) missed on his first attempt at that height, then made his second.  The bar moved up to 16-1 with 10 of the original 12 remaining.  Both Americans made the height on their first attempt.  The bar was moved up to 16-5 with the same 10 remaining.  Paulo made a PR 16-5 on his first attempt and briefly moved into a tie for first.  Devin’s 2nd and 3rd attempts were way over the bar but he hit it on the way down and was eliminated, finishing 6th.  The bar was moved up to 16-8.75, with Paulo in a tie for 2nd among the 5 remaining.  He missed on 3 attempts and finished a commendable 4th.

Long Jump Final – Girls

Keturah Orji (Mt. Holly, Flanders, NJ) and Courtney Corrin (Harvard-Westlake, North Hollywood, CA) were 1-2 after the second round, 20-4.25 and 20-3.75.  Triple jump champ Florentina Marincu (Romania) had a big jump in round 3 (21-0.75) and moved into the lead going into the finals, with Orji and Corrin 2-3.  With big jumps by a Russian and a Pole, Keturah and Courtney were out of the medals, in 4th and 5th.  In the final round, Courtney fouled and Keturah jumped a lifetime best 20-11.75 [-1.2], =#14 all-time high school, to get the silver.  Courtney finished 5th.

800m Final – Girls

The favorite, Anita Henriksdottir (Iceland) won as predicted.  Raevyn Rogers (Kinkaid, Houston, TX) took the lead and was passed just before the bell lap by Henriksdottir who passed 400m in 58.25.  She pulled away from the field with the Ethiopian Dureti Edao passing Raevyn with 200m to go.  The battle was now for the silver between Edao and Rogers.  Raevyn had the silver wrapped up but committed the “cardinal sin of running”: easing up at the finish.  That allowed Edao to slip by and get second.  Henkiksdottir ran a meet record 2:01.13 with Rogers getting a big PR of 2:03.32, #10 all-time high school.  Ersula Farrow (South, Grosse Pointe, MI) had had better days, finishing 8th in 2:13.56.

1500m Final – Boys

There were 2 separate races:  race 1 had Robert Biwott (Kenya) whose splits were 59.41, 1:56.95, 2:54.39 en route to a championship record of 3:36.77.  His last 400m was 56.62. The rest of the runners chased, so the race was for the silver medal.  Blake Haney (Stockdale, Bakersfield, CA) moved up from 6th to 2nd between the 1100m and 1300m mark, only to have the Eritrean, a Kenyan and an Ethiopian pass him.  Haney held on for 5th in a big PR of 3:44.69, #11 all-time high school (worth about 4:02 for a mile).  Grant Fisher (Grand Blanc, MI) ran a fine race, but couldn’t maintain the fast pace, dropping back after 2 laps, finishing 9th in 3:52.00.

Swedish Medley – Girls

The lineup is Dior Hall (Washington, Denver, CO), Ky Westbrook (Chandler, AZ), Raevyn Rogers (Kincaid, Houston, TX) and Olivia Baker (Columbia, Maplewood, NJ).  They won handily in 2:05.15.  The splits (unofficially):  11.1, 24.0, 37.9 and 52.9 for Olivia Baker.  It is only the second gold for the U.S for the meet.

Swedish Medley – Boys

The lineup for the boys is Jaalen Jones (Thompson, Mobile, AL), Noah Lyles (TC Williams, Alexandria, VA), Taylor Mc Laughlin (Union Catholic, Scotch Plains, NJ) and Ryan Clark (Benjamin Banneker, College Park, GA).  It was quite a challenge for the Americans, as the Jamaican team had 2 gold medalists:  Michael O’Hara (200m) and Marvin Williams (400m).  The US team finished second in 1:50.14, with the splits (approximately):  10.4, 21.4, 32.4 and 46.0.

 

This was the best medal haul ever for the U.S. team with 17.  They amassed 16 on three prior occasions:  2001, 2009 and 2011.  However, it was the fewest gold medals ever, with only two (Ky Westbrook in the 100m and the Girls Swedish Medley Relay).  Here is the US medal history:

1999  4   7
2001  5 16
2003  6 14
2005  6 13
2007  7 14
2009  6 16
2011  6 16
2013  2 17

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