USATF Championships Day 1 Recap

EDITOR'S NOTE: AnnGaff and LesleyHiggins are blogging about the USA Track & Field Championships, taking place this weekend in Eugene, OR, based on their firsthand Track & Field experience.  Gaffigan and Higgins competed against each other in college, with Gaffigan representing the Nebraska Huskers and Higgins representing the Colorado Buffs. Both women competed last year in the 3000m Steeplechase at the Olympic Trials.  This year, the two are spectators-from-afar of the USATF Championships/World Team Trials; Higgins is out with a broken foot and Gaffigan gave birth to a baby girl in May.

FINALS:

10,000m:

1 Amy Begley 31:22.69
2 Shalane Flanagan 31:23.43
3 Katie McGregor 32:08.04
4 Magdalena Lewy Boulet 32:20.45
5 Molly Huddle 32:43.11
6 Amy Hastings 32:56.20
7 Serena Burla 32:56.40
8 Melissa Cook 33:02.90
9 Sally Meyerhoff 33:03.19
10 Allison Grace ZAP 33:12.34

This was a phenominal race to watch, as Amy Begley and Shalane Flanagan delivered the race that I was hoping to see. I was a little surplearised to see them swapping the lead all the way into the last mile, which is a testiment to their character as competitors and resulted in a stadium record breaking performance (meaning that Begley topped the performance of both herself and the Flanagan/Goucher dual from the Olympic Trials last year). It was very different from the men's 10,000m where Ritzenhein and Carney ended up hesitantly trading the lead with tactics such as coming to almost a complete stop, while Rupp refused to have any part of it.

The leaders started lapping the field just before the 5000m mark and spent a large portion of the race passing a very large field, lapping at least one runner three times. They lapped every runner out of the top-4 at least once.

Begley has now PR'd in every event from the 800m to the 10,000m this track season, including the 1500m and 2000m, along with her USA 15k road championship. Her time last night makes her the 9th best American performer at 10,000m. Flanagan ran a tough race, but just isn't the same runner she was a year ago. Katie McGregor stayed with the leaders for a large portion of the race and nabbed the third slot on the World team heading to Berlin. Magdalena Lewy Boulet stayed with the leaders until just under half-way and held on for a comfortable 4th place.

Check out the last 4 minutes and 36 seconds of the race, courtesy of Flotrack.org, below:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

High Jump:

1 Chaunte Howard 1.95m / 6-04.75
2 Amy Acuff 1.95m / 6-04.75
3 Sharon Day 1.95m / 6-04.75
4 Destinee Hooker 1.91m / 6-03.25
5 Deirdre Mullen 1.88m / 6-02.00
6 Adriane Stone 1.83m / 6-00.00

Amy Acuff makes her 12th Olympic/World team with a 2nd place finish, while Chaunte Howard snags the win based on faults. AnnGaff's pick for the win, Destinee Hooker, has to settle for 4th, as she didn't get past 1.91m, while the top-3 all cleared 1.95m.

Discus:

1 Stephanie Brown Trafton 64.25m / 210-09
2 Aretha Thurmond 62.51m / 205-01
3 Rebecca Breisch 62.08m / 203-08
4 Summer Pierson 60.88m / 199-09
5 Suzy Powell-Roos 60.29m / 197-10
6 Gia Lewis-Smallwood 58.74m / 192-08

Stephanie Brown Trafton finally secured a US Championship title to go along with her Olympic Gold Medal from last year, and she did so in her 3rd throw of the night.

ROUNDS:

400m hurdles (first round of 3):

Top-6 qualying times in the first round:

1 Tiffany Williams 55.18
2 Lashinda Demus 55.48
3 Nicole Leach 56.28
4 Sheena Tosta 56.37
5 Ebony Collins 56.86
6 Latosha Wallace 57.08

AnnGaff's top-3 picks all made it through to the next round with automatic qualifying spots. The only high seed to not get through to the next round was Angel Perkins. The Semi-Final is tonight (Friday), June 26 at 4:50pm.

100m (first round of 3):

Top-6 qualying times in the first round:

1 Carmelita Jeter 10.88
2 Alexandria Anderson 10.92
3 Marshevet Hooker 10.94
4 Muna Lee 11.01
5 Shalonda Solomon 11.01
6 Lauryn Williams 11.06

Again, AnnGaff's top-3 picks all made it through to the next round with automatic qualifying spots, though Allyson Felix didn't show anything for Jeter to be scared of quite yet. Of course, she is running both the 100m and 200m, and might have been holding back. None of the top seeds failed to make it through to the next round, which is tonight (Friday), June 26 at 4:00pm

800m (first round of 3):

Top-6 qualying times in the first round:

1 Alysia Johnson 2:04.39
2 Hazel Clark 2:04.39
3 Latavia Thomas 2:04.58
4 Sara Vaughn 2:04.60
5 Phoebe Wright 2:04.66
6 Laura Hermanson 2:04.68

My top-3 picks all made it through to the next round with automatic qualifying spots. Nikeya Green was the only top seed to not make it through to the next round. In the first heat, Hazel Clark led from the gun and looked very relaxed securing her automatic bid. Geena Gall also cruised to a win in her qualifying heat, while Maggie Vessey again looked to be out of the race at 400m, but made a big move on the backstretch to secure an automatic slot with a 2nd place finish. The fastest time came from the 3rd heat, with Alysia Johnson leading the field and Sara Vaughn stepping out of her comfort zone at this distance, but easily securing the 2nd automatic bid out of this heat. The next round is tonight (Friday), June 26 at 5:55pm.

400m (first round of 3):

Top-6 qualying times in the first round:

1 Sanya Richards 51.38
2 Debbie Dunn 51.56
3 Shareese Woods 52.09
4 Natasha Hastings 52.16
5 Keshia Baker 52.80
6 Dominique Darden 52.33

Again, AnnGaff's top-3 picks all made it through to the next round with automatic qualifying spots and none of the top seeds failed to move onto the next round, though 2008 Olympian DeeDee Trotter barely eeked in. Sanya Richards led the fastest heat of the night with Debbie Dunn on her heels. The NCAA champ Jessica Beard finished 3rd in her heat and secured a spot in the next round, which is tonight (Friday), June 26 at 5:05pm.


1500m (first round of 2):

Top-6 qualying times in the first round:

1 Christin Wurth 4:11.84
3 Sarah Bowman 4:12.24
5 Anna Willard 4:13.31
7 Heidi Dahl 4:14.00
8 Treniere Clement 4:14.05
2 Shannon Rowbury 4:15.19

The time qualfiers came evenly out of both heats in this prelim, even though the first heat was much faster up front. Christin Wurth-Thomas did not hesitate to push the pace and run the fastest time of the night in the first round. Anna Willard ran an incredibly smart round, letting Wurth-Thomas and Sarah Bowman open up a huge lead, while comfortably sitting in 4th place until the final stretch, where she picked off her 3rd automatic qualifying slot in her heat. In the second round, Erin Donohue did most of the leading, with Mortimer hanging back, then coming up on her shoulder, but never taking the lead. Rowbury took the lead in the end to secure the win in the second round, but crossing the line slower than the first 5 runners in the first heat. The final is Saturday, June 27 at 6:11pm.

USATF Championships Schedule, Results & Quotes

USATF Championships Day 1 Recap

USATF Championships Day 2 Recap

USATF Championships Day 3 Recap

USATF Championships Day 4 Recap

More USATF Championships Previews:

• Discus
• Hammer
• High Jump
• Javelin
• Long Jump
• Pole Vault
• Triple Jump
• Shot Put
• Heptathlon
• 100m
• 100m Hurdles
• 200m
• 400m
• 400m Hurdles
• 800m
• 1500m
• 3000m Steeplechase
• 5000m
• 10,000m

Watch the USATF Championships:

On TV:

ESPN, June 26, 8:00 - 10:00 p.m. ET
ESPN, June 27, 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. ET
NBC, June 28, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. ET

Online:

LIVE All Weekend at Flotrack.org

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