VERNON NORWOOD CROSSES THE LINE IN THE 400m AT THE U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
Day One of the U.S. Olympic Trials is in the books, and several athletes from Louisiana got their feet wet in Eugene, Oregon.
32-year-old Vernon Norwood advanced to the semifinals in the mens' 400m by winning his heat with a 45.40. The semifinals will be on Sunday at 8:35pm.
The big news of the first day of the meet came from Maryland's 16-year old Quincy Wilson, who just finished his sophomore year at The Bullis School. Wilson ran a 44.66 to the U18 Men's 400m World Record. Like Norwood, Wilson won his heat.
Quincy Hall, who had the fastest qualifying time in the Men's 400m (44.60), was the only sprinter to run faster than Wilson.
Mikiah Brisco ran a 11.07 and was second in heat No. 2 of the Women's 100m qualifying. The race was wind aided with a +3.1 reading. Overall, Brisco had the 11th fastest time in the
Aleia Hobbs had the fourth fastest 100m time with a 10.97.
Brisco and Hobbs advance to the semifinals which will be 8:58pm tonight (Saturday, June 22)
The clear favorite in the event is for LSU Tiger Sha'carri Richardson, who stumbled badly coming out the blocks yet still turned in the fastest qualifying time with a 10.88.
Other Louisiana sprinters in the Women's 100m were Shannon Ray (11.31) and Ariane Linton (11.52). They finished 27th and 32nd respectively.
After coming a couple of feet short from making the finals at his last U.S. Olympic Trials, Donavan Banks has made the finals in the men's javelin. Banks' best throw came on his second attempt when he had a throw of 240-2.
Currently, Banks is in fifth place. His former training partner-Curtis Thompson-is leading the competition with a throw of 261-3.
No competitor in the field at the U.S. Olympic Trials has made the Olympic men's javelin standard of 85.50 meters (280-6).
It was a devastating night for K.C. Lightfoot-the American Record holder in the men's pole vault. Lightfoot missed all three attempts at 18-4.5 and failed to make the finals.
Louisiana's Clayton Simms also dropped out of the competition at the height. Simms finished tied at No. 18 with a best jump of 18-0.5.
The only finals on Day One was the men's 10000m, where Grant Fisher (27:49.47), Woody Kincaid (27:50.74), and Nico Young (27:52.40) punched their ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris later this Summer.