World Youth Trials Day 1 Notes
Some of the top high school track and field athletes converged in a hot and humid Edwardsville, Illinois for the World Youth Trials. Through the first day of competition it has been evident that to claim one of the coveted 42 spots to Ukraine, its going to take some major eye-popping performances.
First Impressions
No one impressed more than Bailey Roth (JR, Colorado), running a swift 5:47.42, bettering his nation leading time and climbing to third on the All-Time Chart. Roth, like his run at New Balance, went straight to the lead, and ran completely solo throughout the 2000m race. While this was his only third steeple race ever, he is looking liked a poised veteran over the barriers.
Courtney Corrin (California) was already the top jumper in the nation before today – she just proved it even more. With the boost of a little wind, Corrin leaped 21 feet even (6.40m) on her second jump. This was good enough to defeat Keturah Orji (New Jersey), who moves into third in the nation after her jump of 20-7.25.
Looking at the record book one event stood out above all the rest. The Women’s Hammer throw saw great competition. The top three girls all threw well over the minimum average to make the final with Nyla Woods (Georgia) taking the win with a toss of 199-3. Haley Showalter (Colorado, pictured above), was just behind with a throw of 192-1. In recent years only three girls have cracked the 200 foot barrier. While Woods came up a bit short, it is looking like she could have another crack at it at the World Youth Championship.
Alexa Harmon-Thomas is one of those multi-event athletes that is truly great at everything. Winner of three events at state (and second to the state record holder in another), the Kansas native left day one slightly ahead of her performance a few weeks back at the Great Southwest Invitational. 5th All-Time in the event, Harmon-Thomas didn’t perform as well as she did in New Mexico in three of her first four events. However, her nearly two meter improvement propelled her to a better first day by 24 points. She started out the day in one of her best events – the hurdles – where she ran nearly an identical time. Coming off of a second place finish at USA Juniors in the open high jump, Harmon-Thomas settled for a mark .02 meters below Great Southwest. It was her weakest event – the shot put – that saw her make a huge improvement. Her throw of 37-10 was a whopping 131 points better performance than at GSW. She closed the day with a strong 200, scoring 824 points despite facing a strong wind.
Strong Prelims Set up Exciting Day 2
(Washington, Westbrook, Cunliffe)
Three of the best in the nation will be on display after a clean day of prelim action. Hannah Cunliffe (Washington), Ky Westbrook (Arizona), and Arianna Washington (California) all chose to run at this meet. Three of the top seven 100 runners in the nation, they all advanced smoothly into finals. Cunliffe took the 100 with a swift 11.7 while Westbrook took the 200 in 24.04.
Strong Doubles
Raevyn Rogers didn’t let the heat get to her, recording the fastest 400 and 800 times of the day with performances of 2:09.76 and 54.15.
Ryan Clark also was a double top qualifier, recording 48.06 and 21.39 to grab lane eight in both events for tomorrow.
World Youth Trials Day 1 Notes
Some of the top high school track and field athletes converged in a hot and humid Edwardsville, Illinois for the World Youth Trials. Through the first day of competition it has been evident that to claim one of the coveted 42 spots to Ukraine, its going to take some major eye-popping performances.
First Impressions
No one impressed more than Bailey Roth (JR, Colorado), running a swift 5:47.42, bettering his nation leading time and climbing to third on the All-Time Chart. Roth, like his run at New Balance, went straight to the lead, and ran completely solo throughout the 2000m race. While this was his only third steeple race ever, he is looking liked a poised veteran over the barriers.