National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

World Youth Champs – Day 2 evening

A few notes on activities outside the track.

We went back to the vegetarian restaurant today and had another good meal: Rice, beans, vegetables, corn salad with avocado, large fresh grape juice and strawberries with ginger for dessert.  The total cost for three of us:  30,000 pesos ($11.02 or $3.68 each).  And the waiter refused at 3,000 peso tip ($1.10). He would only take 1000 pesos (37 cents).

We walked about around the stadium and found a bank to get some money. We also found an ice cream shop.  We really didn’t know the flavors so just pointed.  Of course they were fine.  We also noticed the Museum of Natural Sciences, which we’ll try to visit tomorrow after the morning session.

Decathlon – Day 2

George Patrick (Brentwood Academy) was having another sensational day.  He PR’d in his first 3 events today and was sitting 3rd.  He ran 13.99 in the 110m hurdles, his first time under 14 seconds.  He then threw 136-10 in the discus for another PR.  Then vaulted 13-9.25, despite not having his poles (stuck in Bogota).  But the javelin was another story.  George had three poor throws, only one of which was fair.  That was 139-10, almost 40 feet worse than his throw in Lisle.  His shoulder or arm appeared to be bothering him.  He moved from 3rd to 4th in the standings.  He ran a great 1500m, almost 10 seconds faster than his prior best, but he stayed in 4th.  The unfortunate thing is that the public address announcer announced him in 3rd place (and the official results at the time had him in third as well).  His score was 7493, well beyond the 7282 points he scored in Lisle.

Here’s how his day 2 marks in Cali compare to how he performed in Lisle.

110m hurdles Discus     Pole Vault      Javelin         1500m

Lisle       14.19           133-11      13-07.25        177-02        5:04.24

Cali       13.99         136-10      13-09.25      139-10 4:55.20

100m Hurdles Semi Finals – Women

Brittley Humphrey (Hoover, AL) was third in the first semi with a PB of 13.41.  Since the top 2 automatically qualify, she had to wait to see if her time was good enough to make the final.  It was.  Alexis Duncan (Desoto, TX), on the other hand, won her semi handily, running a world-leading 12.95 and only .01 off the World Youth record.

100m Hurdles Finals – Women

The heavy favorite, Alexis Duncan (Desoto, TX), clobbered the third hurdle and never regained her form.  It’s almost impossible to recover in a short race like that.  The big, big surprise was Brittley Humphrey (Hoover, AL) who took the silver in another PB, this time 13.22.  No one even picked her to make the team, much less get a medal.  Here is her progression since the Alabama state meet in April:

• April 30 Alabama state meet (1st)   13.74
• June 19 New Balance Nationals Outdoor (prelims) 13.96 – did not make finals
• June 30 US World Youth Trials prelims  13.68
• June 30 US World Youth Trials finals (2nd)  13.61
• July 15  IAAF World Youth round 1   13.47 2nd
• July 16  IAAF World Youth semis   13.41 3rd (time qualifier)
• July 16  IAAF World Youth finals   13.22 2nd

400m Semi Finals – Men

Josephus Lyles (TC Williams, Alexandria, VA) might have gone out a bit too fast in his semi.  He was running against WY leader Christopher Taylor (Jamaica), who was one lane to his right.  Taylor passed Lyles about about the 320m mark and continued to pull away.  He ran a new world youth leading time of 45.30, with Lyles second (and qualifying) in 45.93.  Keshun Reed (Martin, Arlington, TX) led from start to finish, seemingly running very hard, winning in 46.77 over Australian Louis Stenmark by .01.  Reed was visibly unhappy, it seems, that he ran so hard and could only manage 46.77

100m Semi Finals – Women

Khalifa St. Ford (Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale, FL/Trinidad) set a meet record in semi 1 of 11.24.  Ten minutes later Candace Hill (Rockdale County, Conyers, GA) eclipsed that with 11.16 in semi 2, her second fastest time behind her 10.98 in June.  Jayla Kirkland (Woodlawn, Birmingham, AL) led only at the very end in winning semi 3 in 11.54, a seasonal best.  

100m Finals – Women

It was all Candace Hill as expected, with her second fastest time ever (11.08) and a meet record.  Khalifa St. Fort got a new PB (11.19) for second, as did Jayla Kirkland, the New Balance Nationals outdoor champion (11.41) for 3rd.

800m Semi Finals – Men

Cameron Cooper (Oak Park, MI) ran a seemingly intelligent race, hanging back from the insane pace set by the ultimate winner, Willy Kiplimo Tarbei (Kenya):  24.73, 50.39, 1:18.49, then letting up to run 1:48.68.  But he could not maintain his form past 600m and faded to 6th in 1:54.71.  Connor Dunne (Holy Trinity, Melbourne, FL) had the advantage of not running against Kenyans (they won the first 2 semis) and ran a smart race.  He had third wrapped up but got outleaned at the finish, and finished 5th in 1:51.63, a PB.  A time better than 1:51.41 would have gotten him into the final.

Pole Vault Women – Qualifying
(auto qualifier 12-11.5)

Like the boys high jump, only 12 remained prior to getting to the auto qualifying height.  Both Americans made the final.  Carson Dingler (First Presbyterian, Macon, GA) tied for 6th at 12-9.5, and Rachel Baxter (Canyon, Anaheim, CA) was 11th at 12-5.5.  They were jumping with borrowed poles, with their implements still stuck in customs in Bogota.

400m Semi Finals – Women

Symone Mason (Southridge, Miami, FL) led for most of the race in her semi, but faded 50 meters from the finish and took third.  She would have to wait for a time qualifier.  Lynna Irby (Pike, Indianapolis, IN) dipped under 53 for the first time in her life in winning semi 2 in 52.77.  She led from start to finish.  Mason’s time was ultimately good enough to make the final, and she has the 5th fastest time overall.

Long Jump Final – Men

Justes Nance (Blair Academy, Blairstown, NJ) finished 9th, missing the 8-man final on the basis of a lesser second jump. He jumped 23-9, the same as Evgeniy Timofeev of Russia. But Timofeev had a better second jump (23-8.75) than Nance (22-7.25).   The winner was favorite (and Caribbean Scholastic Invitational champion) Maykel Masso of Cuba with a meet record of 26-5.

400m Hurdles Semi Finals – Men

Cory Poole (East Orange, NJ) was never really in the race, though he ran a decent time (52.88, 8th).   Norman Grimes (Canyon, TX) looked as smooth as ever in winning his heat in 51.41, again easing up at the end.

Shot Put Finals – Women

This was a great competition and part of the historic double by Sophia Rivera (Brentwood, MO) who competed in the javelin simultaneously.  No one has ever made the final in those two events before (in the history of world championships at any level), not to mention competing in them simultaneously.  Sophia took the first round lead, throwing 55-8.25.  Julia Ritter (Germany) eclipsed her in the second round with 56-8.  On the very next throw, Sophia retook the lead with 57-11.25.  In round 3, Ritter threw a big 60-2.  Sophia had a right sector foul on her third throw.  Ritter improved to 60-9.5 in round 4 and Sophia responded with a mediocre 51-2.75.  Round 5 saw Sophia throw 53-5.25.  By the sixth round, with just she and Ritter left, Sophia knew she had the silver.   She had to get close to 61 to win.  She actually improved to 58-10 on her final throw but that obviously wasn’t good enough to win.  She was certainly happy with the silver.  Nickolette Dunbar (Whippany Park, NJ) was 6th by virtue of her 3rd round throw of 55-1.5.

Javelin Finals – Women

With Sophia Rivera and Katelyn Gochenour (Marian Catholic, Omaha, NE), the U.S. had two athletes in a World Youth javelin final for the first time.  Sophia, shuttling between the shot put and javelin, fouled on her first attempt, as did Katelyn.  Sophia managed 151-10 on her second attempt, moving into 7th position.  Katelyn fouled on her second attempt as well.  Sophia improved to 166-10 on her third attempt, but stayed in 7th.  Katelyn final got a legal throw (150-8), but it wasn’t good enough to make the 8-girl final.   She finished 11th overall.  Sophia threw 158-1 on her 4th throw, but had been overtaken and moved into 8th.  She passed her 5th and 6th throws and finished 8th overall.

The Sophia Shuttle

Unfortunately, the javelin and shot put venues were on opposite sides of the stadium.  Here was Sophia Rivera’s itinerary while competing in both events.

• Throw Shot
• Walk 100 meters to javelin venue
• Change shoes
• Throw Javelin
• Walk 100 meters to shot put venue
• Change shoes
• Throw Shot
• Walk 100 meters to javelin venue
• Change shoes
• Throw javelin
• Throw javelin again
• Walk 100 meters to shot put venue
• Change shoes
• Throw shot
• Throw shot again
• Walk 100 meters to javelin venue
• Change shoes
• Throw javelin
• Walk 100 meters to shot put venue
• Change shoes
• Throw shot
• Throw shot again
• Stop walking to javelin area (pass on final two throws)
• Get American flag and drape over shoulders
• Walk to interview area; get interviewed
• Walk to awards podium; receive silver medal
• Get on bus back to hotel
• Eat
• Sleep