NSAF Alums at Rio: First weekend – Smashing debuts for Orji, Saunders

by Steve Underwood

Top Team USA performers in Rio who competed in NSAF events - Friday-Sunday, Aug. 11-13
 

The first three days of the 31st Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro were full of outstanding, thrilling performances by NSAF “alums” – athletes who participated in NSAF events, from as long as 20+ years ago to the very recent past.  The biggest highlights, from that perspective, were Project TJ alum Keturah Orji’s stellar 4th-place finish and American Record in her specialty; shot put gold and 5th-place performances by Michelle Carter and Raven Saunders; and 6th-place finishes by distance queens Molly Huddle in the 10,000 (American Record) and Shalane Flanagan in the marathon

Photos by Vic Sailer, photorun.net  (unless noted) 
 

   
Keturah Orji at Rio (left) and in the 2012 NBNO.

Orji smashes own AR, nearly takes bronze

U. of Georgia soph Keturah Orji barely qualified for the final in her first Olympic triple jump, getting one fair jump in the trials – a 46-2.25 for 12th.  But once in the finals, she unleashed the beast, hop-skip-and-jumping a jaw-dropping 48-3.25 on her first attempt, holding down 2nd after one round.  Orji couldn’t improve on that mark, but did add three more jumps at 47-2 or better and finished in 4th place – just an inch away from a bronze medal.  It was the highest finish ever by an American in the TJ, beating Sheila Hudson’s 10th from 1996, and matched her 4th at the World Indoor champs this past March.

  • NSAF Creds: Orji had an epic prep career as NSAF Project Triple Jumper while at Mt. Olive HS (NJ) ’14.  She won six NBN titles in the TJ and long jump – including sweeping the indoor and outdoor TJs her last two years and winning all four in/out horizontals as a senior – and had 10 total All-American finishes.  She won LJ silver and TJ bronze at the ’13 World Youth champs, the latter with prep history’s #2 performance at 44-11 (just ¾” off the HSR), and took 9th in the ’14 World Junior TJ.



    
Michelle Carter at Rio (left) and in the 2003 AOC discus.

Prep shot legends Carter, Saunders take gold and 5th

In her 3rd Olympics, American shot put record-holder Michelle Carter reached her career apex and became the first U.S. woman ever to win gold in the event.  Carter was trailing 2-time champ Valerie Adams by more than a foot going into the 6th round, but then unleashed a 67-8.25 on her final attempt – beating her old AR by more than a foot.  20-year-old Ole Miss soph Raven Saunders, in her first Olympics, hit a solid 61-11.5 on her first attempt and sat in 6th place going into the 6th round.  Then she nailed a mighty 63-6 to beat her own PR and collegiate record by an inch and move up to 5th place – giving Team USA two in the top five for the first time ever.

  • NSAF Creds: Carter and Saunders top the list of all-time greats in U.S. prep girls’ shot putting.  Carter, whose father Michael set the still-standing boys’ SP record in 1979, had a stellar career at Red Oak HS (TX), including 3 NSAF national titles – ’02-’03 AOC and ’03 NIN.  She set the indoor national record with 54-9.5 at NIN, then the outdoor mark of 54-10.75 at her state meet.  She was also 2nd in the ’01 World Youth champs.  Saunders had an epic 14-foot improvement in the shot as a Burke HS (SC) senior in ’14, exploding on the national stage.  She smashed Carter’s indoor HSR at NBNI at 56-7.5, then Carter’s outdoor standard with her 56-8.25 at Taco Bell.  She went on that summer to win NBNO, nearly breaking her record again, then Chicagoland and finally finishing with a silver medal at World Juniors.

   
Raven Saunders at Rio (left) and in the 2014 NBNO shot.



Huddle 6th in 10k, breaks Flanagan’s AR

Faced with the world record 10,000m pace laid down by Ethiopia’s Almaz Ayana, American Molly Huddle at first hung on with the lead group of eight, then went through 5k just 13 seconds off her American Record at that distance.  Then the 2-time Olympian persevered in the second half of the race to pass two others and finish in an AR 30:13.17 – taking nine ticks off Shalane Flanagan’s standard and 34 seconds off her own previous best.  Huddle’s teammate, first-time Olympian Emily Infeld set a PR 31:26.94 in 11th.  Infeld had nipped Huddle for bronze in last year’s World Champs 10k.

  • NSAF Creds:  Huddle’s superb career as an Elmira HS (NY) prep included five great NSAF races her final two years.  At the ’01 AOC, she was 3rd in both the mile and 2M.  Then at the ’02 NIN, she captured the mile in 4:46.42.  Finally, at the ’02 AOC, she roared to an unforgettable national record in the 2M at 10:01.08, then was 2nd in the mile at 4:47.24.  Infeld, a Beaumont HS (OH) Class of ’08 prep, first made her mark with a runner-up finish in the ’06 NIN 800.  As a junior she had runner-up finishes at both nationals, then topped the podium as a senior in the ’08 NON mile at 4:47.43.

   
Molly Huddle at Rio (left) and at the 2002 AOC 2M.


Flanagan leads U.S. trio in marathon

Four-time Olympian Shalane Flanagan, arguably on the Mt. Rushmore of all-time U.S. female distance runners, hung in medal contention as long as she could before finishing 6th in Sunday’s marathon with 2:25:26.  That improves on her 9th-place finish in the ’12 marathon and adds to a Olympic legacy that includes the bronze medal in the 10,000 in ’08.  With teammates Desiree’ Linden taking 7th in 2:26:08 and Amy Cragg finishing 9th in 2:28:25, Team USA had three finishers in the marathon top 10 for the first time ever.

  • NSAF Creds:  Flanagan had three fine NSAF outdoor nationals performances while a Marblehead HS (MA) prep, class of ’00.  As a junior in ’99, she was 4th in the 2M at 10:24.85, then 5th in the mile.  Then running the mile in ’00, she finished 2nd behind Alicia Craig in 4:48.47.

   
Shalane Flanagan at Rio (left) and in the 2000 FLNO mile.


Other top highlights

   
LaShawn Merritt in Rio (left) and in the 2004 WJC 400 (photo NSAF files).

MEN’s FINALS: Bolt threepeats 100; van Niekerk smashes 400 WR, Merritt takes bronze
  • Usain Bolt (JAM) won his 3rd straight Olympic title in the 100m dash, blasting to a 9.80 clocking and becoming the 1st to win three titles in the event.  Behind him, American Justin Gatlin won his 3rd Olympic 100 medal with 9.89, adding a 2nd silver to his ’04 gold, becoming the first U.S. athlete with three 100 medals.  Andre De Grasse (CAN), who won NCAA titles at USC, took the bronze.  The 2nd American in the final, Trayvon Bromell, fought off injury to take 8th. 
  • NSAF Creds: Gatlin was 3rd in the NSAF outdoor nats 100 as Woodham HS (FL) senior in ’00.  Bromell won the NBNO 100 title in ’13 and was 2nd in the 200.  He also won Pan Am Juniors bronze before starring at Baylor and then going pro.
  • Wayde van Niekerk (RSA) had the most stunning men’s performance of the Games so far, with a World Record 43.03 in the 400 final, taking down Michael Johnson’s 1999 standard of 43.18.  van Niekerk had won 400 gold in the ’15 World Champs, as well, and again defeated defending Olympic champion Kirani James (GRN) (2nd at 43.76) and ’08 Olympic champ LaShawn Merritt of Team USA (3rd at 43.85). 
  • NSAF Creds:  As a Woodrow Wilson HS (VA) senior in ’04, Merritt doubled the NIN 200 and 400 (21.62, 47.88) and did the same outdoors at AOC (20.80, meet record 45.38).  That summer at World Juniors, he captured gold in the 400 (45.25) and 4x4, which set a still-standing WJR of 3:01.09. 
  • Mo Farah (GBR) defended his Olympic gold in the 10,000 meters, overcoming a fall early on and sprinting to the gold in 27:05.17 – his 4th global 10k title in five years.  His long-time “training partner” Galen Rupp, the ’12 silver medalist, was 5th in 27:08.92 – the 4th time he has finished in the top 5 in an outdoor Worlds or Olympic race.  The Trials marathon champion, as well, he’s expected to compete in the 26-miler Sunday. 
  • NSAF Creds: Rupp’s prep career at Central Catholic HS (OR) in NSAF events included a 3rd in the ’03 NIN 2M and 7th in the ’03 AOC deuce.
  • In the discus, won by Germany’s Christoph Harting with 224-3, Team USA’s Mason Finley in his first Olympiad made the final, then finished 11th.  His best showing was in qualifying, as he was 6th overall with 208-11.  In the final, he threw just 203-7. 
  • NSAF creds: Finley became a prep throwing legend while a prep at Buena Vista HS (CO), including three NSAF titles.  As a junior in ’08, he won the NON discus at 206-11.  In ’09 he set the national record in the discus at 236-6, then triumphed at NON with 211-0.  He also won the epic shot put showdown, with four 70-footers, with a PR 71-8.75.  He also swept the Pan American Junior SP and DT in ’09.
  • American Jeff Henderson leapt 27-6 on his final attempt to bring the long jump gold back to the USA for the first time since 2004.  He won a thrilling battle over Luvo Manyonga (RSA) 27-5.5, 2012 champ Greg Rutherford (GBR) at 27-2.5 and teammate Jarrion Lawson at 27-0.75.  It appeared Lawson had the distance on the final jump of the competition to possibly overtake Henderson, but his hand raked the sand behind him.

   
Mason Finley at the Trials (left) and in the 2009 NON discus.
 

WOMEN’s FINALS: Williams, Gardner make debuts
  • In the Friday-Saturday heptathlon, won by Nafissatiou Thiam (BEL) with 6,810 pts, Team USA’s Kendell Williams was 17th – in her first Olympics – with 6,221.  The U. of Georgia junior started out with solid performances in the 100H (13.04) and HJ (6-0), but ran into trouble in the shot with a 36-9.5, more than five feet off her PR.  Her other performances were solid, if not quite PR level: 24.09 200, 20-8.5 LJ, 134-3 JT and 2:16.24 800.  Williams’ PR, notched in the Trials, is 6,402.  However, her 6,221 was only four points off her PR before the Trials. 
  • NSAF Creds:  Williams’ enjoyed an historic career at Kell HS (GA) ’13, winning 8 NBN individual titles and earning 10 more All-American honors.  Those titles included a 100H/400H double while just a freshman in ’10; three straight pentathlon crowns indoors, including a national record 4,068; and a meet-record hept title when she was a soph in ’11 (not broken until ’16).  She also competed in four international meets: CSI in ’10, World Youths (100H bronze, 11th hept) in ’11, World Juniors in ’12 (8th hept, with national record 5,578) and Pan Am Juniors in ’13 (silver in hept, 5,572). 
  • Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson dethroned her 2-time defending Olympic champion teammate Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m final Saturday with a 10.71, just .01 off her world leading mark.  Team USA’s Tori Bowie clocked 10.83 for the silver medal, with SAFP taking bronze in 10.86.  Bowie’s teammate English Gardner – the Trials champ with 10.74, in her first Olympics – finished 7th in 10.94. 
  • NSAF Creds:  Gardner had an outstanding career at Eastern Regional HS (’10) in NJ, including a pair of All-American NSAF finishes.  As a frosh in ’07, she was 3rd in the ’07 NON 400 at 54.00, then 2nd in the ’08 100 at 11.82.

 

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