NSAF Alums at the IAAF World Champs: Day 3, Mon. Aug. 12

by Steve Underwood

Oliver, Wilson net Gold, Silver for Team USA

Third in a 9-part series! Keep checking back for the next 6!

2013 IAAF World Champs photos by John Nepolitan | John's NSAF Alums Monday 0812 Gallery
NSAF file photos by Vic Sailer, Photorun.net, for the NSAF



110H Gold and Silver medalists David Oliver (right) and Ryan Wilson (left).


When the men’s 110m hurdles final began Monday, during the third night of the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, all four Americans off the line also happened to be National Scholastic Athletics Foundation “alums.”

Interestingly, the one who were least accomplished at the prep level was the one who came up the biggest.  David Oliver captured the gold with a sterling 13.00(+0.3w), followed by Ryan Wilson in the silver medal spot, Jason Richardson 4th and Aries Merritt 5th. 

Eight more NSAF alums – all women – competed in Monday finals, with the Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure also claiming silver: in the 100.  Americans English Gardner, Alexandria Anderson and Octavious Freeman trailed Ahoure in the 100 – taking 4th, 7th, and 8th.  Shot putter Michelle Carter – like Gardner – just got nosed out for bronze, while Natasha Hastings and Francena McCorory were 5th and 6th in the 400 final. In the first day of the heptathlon, Bettie Wade completed the first four events in 15th place.

Two other NSAF alums were among those eliminated in men’s 110H and women’s 100 semifinals, contested earlier in the evening.  A dozen others competed in preliminary or semifinal rounds.  Check out these links to read about the NSAF accomplishments of all of the relevant athletes who started competition Saturday and Sunday.

There’s 76 Team USA athletes here at the Worlds, plus another 22 representing other countries, who have previously competed in the Foundation’s events.

Team USA’s 1-2 the big story

You could say that David Oliver (Clermont, Fla.) was a bit of a late bloomer.  As a prep at Denver East (Colo.), he had the relatively modest distinction in NSAF action of finishing 7th in his semi of the 60H in the 2000 Nike Indoor Classic (NIC).  He was third and fifth in his 5A state 110H and 300H.  Through 2004 while at Howard U., his best over the 42” hurdles was 13.60 for 4th in the 2003 NCAAs. 

  
2013 IAAF 110H semis: At left, Aries Merrit and at right, Jason Richardson.


But Oliver’s times really started coming down the next few years and he made his first IAAF Worlds in 2007.  He won Olympic bronze in 2008, set a world record in 2010 (12.89) and was fourth in the 2011 Worlds.  In Oliver’s wake were defending champ Jason Richardson (Los Angeles) in 4th at 13.27, and world-record holder/2012 Olympic champ Aries Merritt (Bryan, Texas) in 5th at 13.31.  Neither was able to muster their ‘A’ game; instead, it was Ryan Wilson (Los Angeles) who got the silver in 13.13.  He was the 2003 NCAA 110H champ, had run as fast as 13.02 back in 2007, and ranked as high as #4 in the world two other years – but this was his first international team and medal.

The Team USA quartet had qualified for the final through the semis earlier in the evening.  Two other NSAF alums repping Trinidad & Tobago who had made it through qualifying, however, were eliminated at that point.  Mikel Thomas was 4th in SF1 (10th overall) with 13.46(-0.3w) and Wayne Davis II finished 7th in SF2 with 13.47(-0.3).

  
English Gardner: 2013 IAAF World 100 at left, 2008 NON 100 at right.


The women’s 100 final also started with four NSAF alums, with Nigerian Murielle Ahoure beating the American trio for silver with 10.93(-0.3w) – finishing between Jamaican gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s huge win and the US’s Carmelita Jeter’s bronze.  Ahoure's runnerup spot matched what she achieved in the 2012 IAAF World Indoor 60, while improving on her 6th/7th finishes in the London Olympic 200 and 100.

English Gardner (Voorhees, N.J.) – won who her third NCAA title while finishing up at Oregon this spring – just missed bronze by .03 with her 10.97.  Alexandria Anderson (Austin, Texas), representing Team USA for the first time as a Senior, took 7th in 11.10 and Octavious Freeman – a new pro after two years at Central Florida junior and who’s even younger than Gardner – was 8th in 11.16.  Nigerian Gloria Asumnu, the fifth NSAF alum who had made the women’s 100 semis, was 7th in SF3 and didn’t make the final.

  
Alexandria Anderson: 2013 IAAF World 100 at left, 2005 NON 200 at right.

  
Octavious Freeman: 2013 IAAF World 100 at left, 2011 NBNO 100 at right.


In the shot, NSAF alum Michelle Carter (Dallas) nearly earned her first global outdoor medal to go with her IAAF World Indoor bronze from 2012.  The indoor/outdoor prep record holder had previous bests of 6th in the 2009 Worlds (and 2012 Olympics), but seemed primed for the top three after qualifying second on Sunday.  She was in 2nd after the first round, in 3rd after the second, and stayed there until the final round when she was knocked off the podium.  Still, a 65-5 to top her best-ever big meet series was definitely an improvement over anything she’s done outdoors previously.

Natasha Hastings (Atlanta, Ga.) and Francena McCorory (Hampton, Va.) had both been under 50 in Sunday’s semis – with McCorory getting a PR 49.86 – and also seemed in good shape for at least bronze.  But the NSAF alums had to settle for 5th and 6th, respectively, with 50.30 and 50.68.  Each had hoped for better, partly since Hastings was 3rd in the 2012 World Indoor 400 and McCorory 4th in the 2011 World Outdoor one-lapper (and 7th in London) – but this field was tougher than either of their previous World outings.

Monday’s other final was the first day of the heptathlon and Team USA’s Bettie Wade (Manhattan, Kan.) came in with NSAF ties, having won as a Farmington (Northville, Mich.) senior the 2005 Nike Outdoor Nationals (NON) high jump with 5-8.75.  In her first four events here, she ran a 13.84 100H-0.4w), high jumped 5-10.75, threw the shot 41-11.75, and ran 24.87(-0.2w) for the 200.  That left her in 15th out of 33 starters with 3,591 points.

L. Merritt, W400 hurdlers look good in rounds

Two-time IAAF World Outdoor champ LaShawn Merritt (Suffolk, Va.) of Team USA paced the men’s 400 semis as he had qualifying the day before, running 44.60 to take SF2.  Of the above-mentioned dozen NSAF alums competing in semis or qualifying Monday, he looked the mostly likely to contend for gold.  The Dominican Republic’s Luguelin Santos also looked like a medal contender, taking 2nd in SF3, his 44.83 just .02 behind defending World champ and 2012 Olympic champ Kirani James’ 44.81.  On the other hand, young American Arman Hall (Pembrook Pines, Fla.) – who beat Santos once two years ago – was not quite able to ascend to the next level as his 45.54 left him 5th in SF3.  Nonetheless, Hall had an amazing 2012, most of his duties for the Florida Gators as a frosh.

In the opening round of the women’s 400 hurdles, Team USA’s NSAF alums Lashinda Demus (Los Angeles) and Dalilah Muhammad (Bayside, N.Y.) looked the part of medal contenders as Demus won H4 in 54.94 and Muhammad was a fairly close 2nd in H3 at 54.90.  They qualified 2nd and 3rd, respectively, overall.  Of course, Demus has been here and done this many times before: She’s the defending champ here off her 52.47 in Daegu – after silvers in 2005 and 2009 –  and won Olympic silver in 2012.  As fans know, she was a prep legend at Long Beach Wilson (Calif.); her 39.98 300H as a senior in 2001 is still the only mark ever under 40 seconds.  Her lone NSAF appearance was a Nike Indoor Classic (NIC) flat 400 victory as a junior in 2000.

Muhammad, on the other hand, is competing on her first senior team.  She’s worn the Team USA vest before, though, and topped the 400H medal stand at the 2007 World Youths.  Her prep career at Benjamin Cardozo (Bayside, N.Y.) also included the Nike Outdoor Nationals 400H triumph that same year in a nation-leading 57.09.  She had placed 4th and 7th the previous two years in the same race as a soph and frosh.

  
Kerron Clement: 2013 IAAF World 400H at left, 2003 AOC 110H at right.


The men’s 400H also took off Monday morning, with Team USA veterans Kerron Clement (Gainesville, Fla.) and Bershawn Jackson (Raleigh, N.C.) among four NSAF alums advancing.  Clement, who won the 2007 and 2009 Worlds, was 2nd in H3 (6th overall) with 49.43, while Jackson – the 2005 World Champ – was 3rd in H4 (14th overall) in 49.73. 

Clement was an adidas Outdoor Champs victor in consecutive years while at LaPorte (Texas), taking the 110H (13.63) in 2002 and the 400H (50.96) in 2003.  He also took the 2003 NIC 60H in 7.84.  Jackson was 4th behind Clement in the 2002 110H (13.92) and 3rd in the 400H (52.96).

Then there was the amazing Dominican Republic super vet Felix Sanchez, who was the 2001 and 2003 World Champ, as well as the improbable 2012 Olympic Champ.  Few know that Sanchez was the National Scholastic Outdoor 400H champ back in 1995, clocking 52.39, while at University City (San Diego) HS.  He topped Clement in H3, his 49.20 qualifying 3rd overall to the semis.  Finally, Puerto Rico’s Eric Alejandro, 16th in the AOC 400H while at Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) HS, was 4th in H5 (15th overall) in 49.79 to move on.

     
Evan Jager: 2006 NON 2M at left, 2013 IAAF World 3k ST at right -- De'Sean Turner: 2013 IAAF World 3k ST.
 

Barriers of another kind were scaled by yet another pair of NSAF alums as Evan Jager (Portland, Ore.) and De’Sean Turner (Indianapolis, Ind.) tried for the 3,000 steeplechase final.  Jager, who set the American Record last year, made sure he got in with an 8:23.76 triumph in H2, but Turner’s 8:28.44 left him a non-advancing 5th in H3.

Jager, while at Jacobs (Algonquin, Ill.) HS, had an outstanding 8:47.68 2M/4:05.68 1M double in the 2007 Nike Outdoor Nationals that netted him 4th and 3rd, overall, respectively.  He had been 3rd in the 2M and 9th in the mile the previous year.  Turner was 23rd overall in that 2007 NON mile, an off-form effort in his only Foundation meet that did not represent his fine career at Warren Central (Indianapolis).

Finally, the men’s discus was the only field event prelim that included an NSAF alum.  India’s Vikas Gowda – 7th in Daegu and 8th in London – threw 208-9 to qualify 7th overall to the final.  While at Frederick (Md.) HS in 2001, he won the AOC discus at 199-2 and took 3rd in the shot at 63-11.5.

 

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