2012 World Juniors- Day 3

by Jim Spier & Joy Kamani

Stories by Jim Spier, Photos by Joy Kamani

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Morning Session

Long Jump - Women Qualifying

Neither American made the final.  Le Tristan Pledger (Texas Tech), the USATF Junior runnerup with a best of 20-5.25, jumped only 19-11.5 to finish 20th.  Robin Reynolds, the USATF Junior champion jumped slightly better (20-1), but was well off her PR of 20-6.25.  She finished 17th.  The leader was Alina Rotaru of Romania at 21-7.25.

200m - Men - Round 1

Both Americans, Aaron Ernest (LSU), the 100m silver medalist, and Tyreek Hill (Coffee County, Douglas, GA) won their heats and advanced to the semifinal round.  Ernest ran 21.04 and Hill 21.29.  The leading qualifier was Delano Williams (Turks and Caicos Islands) at 20.66, as 9 athletes ran 20.98 or better.

400m Hurdles - Women - Round 1

Kaila Barber (Notre Dame) clobbered hurdle 8 but still managed to qualify as the top 4 in each heat advanced to the semifinals.  She ran 60.02.  Shamier LIttle (Lindblom College Prep, Chicago, IL) ran 60.14.  Both finished in fourth in their heats.

Javelin - Men - Qualifying

It was not a good morning for the Americans.  Devin Bogert (Texas A+M) threw 220-8 to finish 21st.  Sean Keller (Heritage, Vancouver, WA) could manage only 217-7 to finish 25th.  The leader was Luke Cann of Australia throwing 244-7, as eight throwers bettered the auto qualifying standard of 236-3.

200m - Women - Round 1

Both Americans, Dezerea Bryant (Clemson) and Olivia Ekpone (Texas A+M) won their heats and automatically qualified to the next round. It was Ekpone at 23.74 and Bryant at 23.54. The overall leader was Shericka Jackson of Jamaica running 23.35.

Pole Vault - Women - Qualifying

Emily Grove (South Dakota) was one of six qualifiers who cleared the auto standard of 13-5.5 with no misses.  Sydney White (East Forsyth, Kernersville, NC) cleared 11-11.75 and 12-7.5 and went out at 12-11.5.

400m Hurdles  - Men - Semifinals

Greg Coleman (Texas A+M) was in great shape before hitting hurdle 8.  After that, he faded to 3rd and just missed making the final by .01, running 51.12.  Eric Futch (Penn Wood, Lansdowne, PA) seemed to be out of it during the first half of the race (like yesterday), then shifted gears and won "going away" in 50.77.  The fastest qualifier was Javarn Gallimore of Jamaica, running 50.45.

Evening Session

Hammer - Women - Qualifying
Shelby Ashe (Throw 1 Deep Club, GA) finished 9th overall in the trials (4th in her group), throwing 197-5.  Deanna Price (Southern Illinois), who had finished 10th in the NCAA Championship at 204-2, finished 18th overall in 189-8 and did not advance.

200m - Women - Semifinals
Olivia Ekpone (Texas A+M) had an easy run in qualifying, running 23.49.  But the 100m Champion, Anthonique Strachan of Bahamas had it even easier, striding to a 23.28 win.  Dezerea Bryant (Clemson), disappointed at not making the 100m final, ran the fastest time of the day in winning her semifinal.  She ran 23.11 into a 0.8 wind.

200m - Men - Semifinals
Aaron Ernest (LSU) barely got an automatic qualifier in semi 1, running the same time as Teray Smith (American Heritage, Plantation, FL/Bahamas), as both ran 21.06 with Ernest getting the nod.  Julian Forter (Jamaica) was the winner in 20.83.  Tyreek Hill (Coffee County, Douglas, GA) was second in his semi, letting up at the end and almost not advancing.  He ran 21.00 with David Bolarinwa of Great Britain getting the win in 20.85.

3000m Steeplechase - Women - Final
Brianna Nerud (North Shore, Glen Head, NY) seems to improve in large increments.  Running the national high school record two days ago, she went from a PR of 10:19.91 in May to the national high school record two days ago (10:08.15).  Today, in finishing fifth, the Syracuse-bound senior set an American Junior Record, running 10:00.72 and breaking that of Shelby Greaney who ran 10:00.88 two years ago.  That, of course, is the new national high school record as well.  The winner was Daisy Jepkemei of Kenya, with a world leader at 9;47.22.

Heptathlon - Day 1 Summary
Kendell Williams (Kell, Marietta, GA) sits 4th after day 1.  She hurdled 13.74, high jumped 5-11.25, threw the shot 35-1.25 (a 3' PR!) and ran the 200 in 24.94 for a total of 3473.  The leader is Tamara De Sousa (Brazil) with 3638, followed by Yorgelis Rodriguez (Cuba) with 3553 and Nafissatou Thiam (Belgium( with 3529.  Erica Bougard (Mississippi State) is in 13th place with 3360 points.

110m Hurdles - Men - Final
Yordan O'Farrill (Cuba) ran the 3rd fastest ever for a junior (13.18) as he led from the gun.  Nicholas Hough (Australia) outleaned Wilhem Belocian (France) to get the silver, 13.37 to 13.39.  Dondre Echols (Potomac, Oxon Hill, MD) never really challenged and finished 6th in 13.71.

400m - Women - Semifinals
Erika Rucker (South Carolina) led from the start winning with a personal best 52.05.  US high school leader Kadecia Baird (Medgar Evers, Brooklyn, NY/Guyana) finished strong at got the second auto qualifier in 52.40.  Ashley Spencer (Illinois) easily won her semi, running 52.24.  Rucker and Spencer were the two fastest qualifiers to the final.  Kadecia Baird was the third fastest.

Triple Jump - Women - Final
A truly great competition for the medals though Ciarra Brewer (Florida) was not part of that.  Ana Peleteiro of home-country Spain got the win and world junior lead with a jump of 46-6.  In round 5, Dovile Dzindzaletaite (Lithuania) equaled that mark but had a lesser second jump and had to settle for the silver.   Brewer was 6th with a jump of 43-10.75, about a foot off her best.

400m - Men - Final
For the third time in a month, Luquelin Santos (Dominican Republic) broke 45 seconds, winning in 44.85.  He dominated the race.  Arman Hall (Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale, FL) got a .2 PR running 45.39 for second, 58#12 all-time high school.  Aldrich Bailey (Timberview, Mansfield, TX) was never really in the race, finishing in an unusual tie for third with Steven Solomon of Australia with both running 45.52.   Three of the four on the awards stand ran at the 2011 Caribbean Scholastic Invitational, with Arman Hall beating Santos in the 400m, 46.95 to 47.29, and Aldrich Bailey finishing second in the 200m in 21.50.

Discus Throw - Men - Final
Dalton Rowan (Texas A+M) was off his personal best of 201-2, throwing 194-7 and finishing 7th.  It was a great competition up front with Fedrick Dacres (Jamaica) edging Wojciech Praczyk (Poland), 206-0 to 205-10.

800m - Women - Final
Ajee Wilson (Neptune, NJ) cruised to #2 all-time high school, running 2:00.91.  Only Kim Gallagher has ever run faster (2:00.07 in 1982).  She ran totally under control, comfortably in 7th at 400m where the leader passed at 58.29.  She began moving up at 500m and was in second at 600m.  The leader was at 1:29.99 at that point.  She moved into first around the final turn, moving out into lane 2 and never relinquished the lead.  She becomes the #3 all-time U.S. Junior, behind Gallagher and Kathy Weston who ran 2:00.73 for third at the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Pole Vault - Men - Final
The 2012 New Balance Outdoor Nationals pole vault champion finished third here.  Shawnacy Barber (Kingwood Park, Kingwood, TX), representing Canada, jumped 18-2.5, #2 all-time U.S. high school, just shy of Tommy Skipper's 18-3 national record.  American Nikita Kirillov (Georgia Tech) finished 8th with a best of 17-4.5.  The winner was Thiago Braz Da Silva of Brazil, who also jumped 18-2.5, but won on fewer misses.


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