Day Three Report from World Youth Championships - Evening Session

by Jim Spier

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110m Hurdles Semifinals – Boys

A confident Isaiah Moore (Cummings, Burlington, NC), the long jump bronze medalist from yesterday, kept his focus and finished a strong second in his semifinal.  His time of 13.66 is a personal best.  Marlon Humphrey (Hoover, AL) ran a very strong race to take the world junior lead in his semi, winning handily in 13.28.  The world junior lead did not last long as Jamaican Jaheel Hyde ran a strong 13.22 to win his heat.

Heptathlon Shot Put

Alexa Harmon-Thomas (Lawrence Free State, Lawrence, KS) threw the shot 34-3 for 558 points, giving her a total after 3 events of 2441, putting her in 12th place.

Heptathlon 200m

Alexa Harmon-Thomas ran this event immediately after leaving the high jump final.  She ran 25.58 for 834 points, giving her 3275 points, moving her up to 10th.

Triple Jump Qualifying – Boys (automatic qualifying 50-2.5)

Keandre Bates (Burges, El Paso, TX) would have to equal his personal best to get the automatic qualifying standard.  Maybe his would somehow make the final.  He fouled on his first attempt.  He did the same on his second, but we noticed that it was close to 16 meters (52-5.5).  Nah, couldn’t be.  Then, on his third attempt, he jumped 51-6.25 (+1.5) to get the overall lead going into the final!  He is a product of the National Scholastic Athletic Foundation (NSAF) Triple Jump project and his jump is #2 US behind  the U.S. leader Jeremiah Green (Hillsborough, Tampa, FL), another product of that program.

High Jump Final – Girls

Alexa Harmon-Thomas (Lawrence Free State, Lawrence, KS), doing double duty with this event and the heptathlon, took time out to run the final event of heptathlon, day 1, before continuing with the high jump.   She made 5-8.75 on her second attempt, but went out at 5-10.  She finished 10th overall.

 

 

800m Semis – Girls (top 3 in each heat and next 2 fastest advance to the final)

Raeyvn Rogers (Kinkaid, Houston, TX) led for almost the entire first lap.  At that point she was overtaken by the overall favorite, Anita Henriksdottir of Iceland.  Henriksdottir passed the first lap at 61.32.  Kokeb Tesfaye of Ethiopia passed Rogers just after that point.  Rogers maintained contact and finished 3rd in 2:05.35, .02 off her personal best.  But wait, it appears that Henriksdottir and Tesfaye have been disqualified via rule 163.3., “lane infringement”.  We’ll have to wait and see about a protest from those athletes’s federations.  Ersula Farrow (South, Grosse Pointe, MI) continues to surprise.  She was never out of the money, maintaining contact with the leaders.  She and the two ahead of her separated themselves from the field with 150 meters to go, with Ersula finishing third with a PR 2:06.75.  Both will advance to the final on Sunday.  After a review, Henriksdottir was put back in but Tesfaye was disqualified.


Triple Jump Final – Girls

Keturah Orji (Mt. Olive, Flanders, NJ), another product of the NSAF Triple Jump Project,  improved to a PB 44-1.25 [0.2] on her second jump in the trials after fouling on her first, moving into 4th place in the competition.  That’s =4th all-time high school, tied with former NCAA champion, Erica Mc Clain.  The next jump was 44-8 [0.5], moving her into 3rd place,  #2 all-time high school!!  She fouled on her 4th attempt, jumped 42-11.5 [0.5] on her fifth attempt, remaining in 3rd.  On her final attempt, she jumped 44-11 [0.8], missing the high school record by 3/4”.  Her jump was exactly the same as second placer Rong Wang of China, but Wang had a better second jump (44-8.25) to Orji’s 44-8.  What a spectacular performance by Keturah Orji!  Keturah’s medal is only the second ever at these championships, the other being the bronze by Michelle Sanford in 2001.

2000m Steeplechase Final – Boys

It didn’t take long for the pack to separate.  It was the Kenyans, the Ethiopians and one Moroccan.  Bailey Roth (Coronado, Colorado Springs, CO) maintained a solid 7th place throughout the race and that’s the way he finished, running 5:45.87, just off what he ran in the trials.  He and most of the rest of the pack were at least 100 meters behind the leaders.  The winner, in somewhat of an upset, was an Ethiopian, Meresa Kahsay, in a world record 5:19.99. 

400m Final – Boys

Ryan Clark (Benjamin Banneker, College Park, GA) led from the gun then, with 50 meters to go he began to tie up.  He could barely move from that point on and Michael Manley of Jamaica swept past him for the win in a yearly world best of 45.89.  Ryan barely held on for second, running 46.46.  Only Arman Hall, in 2011, has won this meet.  The U.S. now has a total of 5 medals in the history of this meet:  1 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze.

400m Final – Girls

Olivia Baker (Columbia, Maplewood, NJ) went out very fast.  She had Sabrina Bakare of Great Britain to her outside.  Bakare was the tallest girl in the field, Baker the shortest.  With 100 meters to go, Bakare began her move and started to pull away.  Olivia, spent from the fast early pace, hung on for second.   It was Bakare with a personal best of 52.77 to Olivia’s 53.38.

Hammer Final – Boys  (5kg)

It was a gutsy performance yesterday for Colin Minor (South Brunswick, Southport, NC)
to get into the final as the 13th qualifier.  Today he managed 232-10 for 12th place, a very respectable performance for the high school junior.

110m Hurdles Final – Boys

It was a very solid race for Marlon Humphrey (Hoover, AL).  He really didn’t make any mistakes. He just got beat by a very good athlete.  It was Jaheel Hyde of Jamaica, the winner, with a meet record of 13.13 [-1.1] edging Marlon, who ran a personal best 13.24.  Isaiah Moore (Cummings, Burlington, NC) ran a respectable 13.68 for 6th.  The Jamaicans now have won both short hurdles.  It is the 6th medal ever for the US; 4 have been gold and 2 silver.


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