McLaughlin misses national record in Girls 400 Hurdles by .08 seconds; Watson runs US #4 winning Girls 800; Hill sweeps Girls 100 & 200; Lyles under 46 in 400

By Michael Newman

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Lisle, Ill --- The United States Youth National team was announced Wednesday evening after the conclusion of the USATF World Youth Trials held at the Benedictine University Track Complex. With the performances that were displayed in Wednesday’s finals as evidence, this United States team could leave Columbia at the end of the month with a heavy gold medal haul.

“I am super excited. This is a coach’s dream team,” said United States Youth Team Coach Lisa Morgan about the Girls team that was selected. “All I see is history being made with these girls. They are the building blocks for our future national teams. They have so much potential to garner so many medals.”

Sophomores Candace Hill (Rockdale County GA) and Sydney McLaughlin (Scotch Plains NJ) lead the 49 member youth team that will compete in Colombia in two weeks. Both put in excellent performances in winning their events Wednesday. McLaughlin grazed the final hurdle in the Girls 400 Meter Hurdles. She crossed the line in 55.28 establishing a new national best. McLaughlin just missed the national record by eight hundredths of a second.

“I think it was getting my technique down and finishing stronger than yesterday,” McLaughlin said afterwards. “I got a PR and a meet record. It is a great feeling.”

Brandee Johnson (Suffolk VA) took advantage of a second chance to finish second in this race and to qualify for the national team. In Tuesday’s prelim race, Johnson fell coming out of the final curve. She got up to finish and just qualify for the finals. Despite the fact that she had to run out of Lane 1, Johnson ran 57.90 to place second.

Hill displayed her talents in winning both the Girls 100 and 200 Meter Dashes. The Georgia sophomore ran what looked like a “slow” 11.48 to win the 100 running into a 0.8 headwind. She was still almost a quarter second ahead of Lynna Irby (Indianapolis IN) who finished second (11.73). College coaches that were in the stands watching this talented sprinter speculated that the time that Hill ran would have been close to 11.1 in “perfect” conditions.

Hill had more of a challenge in the 200 Meter Dash as Lauren Rain Williams (Westlake Village CA) was there waiting for her. Williams had finished fourth earlier in the 100. Williams and Hill were even as they came off the south curve. Hill slowly pulled away to edge Williams by nineteen hundredths of a second (23.14 – 23.33).

“At first, people were saying what will she sprint next. I’ve told myself that the 10.9 might have been one in a lifetime kind of thing,” Hill said after her 200 race. “All I want to do is run the 100 like I have been. If I get a PR, I get a PR. If I don’t, I don’t.  All I did today is came out and ran my best.”

Sammy Watson (Henrietta NY) has used an approach in running in the 800 this spring of coasting through the first 400 and unleashing an unbelievable kick for the win. She did not get the opportunity to deploy that kind of strategy as Amanda Thomas (Chesapeake VA) pushed the pace through the first 200 in 29.2. Watson was close behind and took the lead just before the 400 meter point going through in 61.2. She extended the lead on the backstretch. It was a lead that she would not relinquish crossing the line in 2:04.27. Julia Heymach (Houston TX) passed Thomas in the back stretch and held that position for second three seconds back.

“All my races have gone out slow where I have run negative splits,” Watson said afterwards. “I decided if I were to go out faster the race would be faster. I am not that good at pacing. I am glad someone (Thomas) took it out.

Josephus Lyles (Alexandria VA) will lead a strong American Boys team to Columbia. He started out Wednesday with a win in the 400 Meter Dash. It was not that easy for Lyles as US #2 400 runner Keshun Reed (Arlington TX) opened up a lead out of Lane 6 with Lyles chasing after him. The two runners came off the final curve even. A surge in the final 50 meters was the difference as the TC Williams junior won in 45.76 (US #3). Reed came in a close second (46.06). With both runners under 46 seconds this year, they could be tough to beat in a couple of weeks.

A curveball was thrown at Lyles before the start of the 200 Meter Dash. The Girls and Boys event was supposed to begin at 3:30 PM. Instead, the Girls race started at 3:05 with the Boys immediately after that. “I did not realize they were going to start that early,” Lyles said after the race. “I went to check in and get my hip number. I was told that they were already on the track.”

The early start did not seem to bother Lyles even though he was a little bit behind Maxwell Willis (Bowie MD). Lyles tried to run down Willis in the final straightaway with no luck. Willis punched his ticket to Colombia winning the event (21.21) fourteen hundredths ahead of Lyles.

“I just wanted to go out relaxed. Keshun got out pretty hard,” Lyles said about his 400 race. “I just wanted to stay relaxed on the finals straight away. I think I can go faster.”

“Josephus running 45 and Keshun running 46 seconds in the 400 makes a statement for our men’s team heading to Colombia,” added Morgan.

Highlights from the other Wednesday finals:

Symone Mason (Miami FL) was speechless after winning the Girls 400 Meter Dash. It was not because of astonishment of what she had done. It was because she was just exhausted. The Southridge High sophomore took command of the lead just past the 200. She ran almost three tenths better than her previous PR winning in 52.80 (US #4). Lynna Irby (Indianapolis IN), who had finished second earlier in the 100, completed a great day placing second also with a personal best (53.36, US #12).

One of the best doubles of the meet was accomplished by Sophia Rivera (Brentwood MO) when she won the Shot Put and the Javelin Throw within a span of 35 minutes. In the sixth round on her final attempt, Rivera threw the 3 kg Shot 59-4 ¼. According to Steve Underwood of NSAF, it is the longest put ever by an American using that lighter implement. She took a couple steps to her right over to the Javelin runway. With not much time to warm up, Rivera threw 169-3 to overtake Katelyn Gochenour in the fourth round for the lead. That lead held up even though Gochenour improved to 167-7 in the fifth round.

The last Girls field event of the day proved to be one of the most exciting. Lajarvia Brown (Alton IL) had earlier in the day finished up her Heptathlon competition placing third behind event winner Jordan Fields (St. John’s FL). Brown took the lead in the second round with a personal best 41-7 ½ jump. That lead held up until the second to last attempt of the competition. Long Jump winner Tara Davis (Agoura Hills CA) achieved a personal best jumping 41-10 ¾ to take the lead and the win in the event.

Before Julia Heymach ran in the 800 Finals, earlier in the day she was on the track winning the 1500 Meter Run. She pulled away from Rylee Bowen (Santa Rosa CA) in the final 400 meters to win by less than three seconds (4:27.94 – 4:30.56). Bowen on Tuesday had qualified for the National team by winning the 2000 Meter Steeplechase. Destiny Collins (Temecula CA) also earned a team bid by winning the 3000 Meter Run. She slowly pulled away from Sara Platek (Jamestown NC) in the final three laps to run 9:41.53 finishing twelve seconds ahead of the North Carolina runner.

Alexis Duncan (DeSoto TX) won the 100 Meter Hurdles running 13.32 into a 1.9 headwind. Brittley Humphrey (Hoover AL) ran 13.61 to finish second just two hundredths ahead of Tonea Marshall (Arlington TX).

Only three athletes cleared heights in the Girls High Jump. Madison Yerigan (Stanwood WA) won the event clearing 5-9 ¼.

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Despite the fact the conditions were unseasonably cool with temperatures close to 60 degrees and the runners ran into a 1.2 headwind, Micaiah Harris (Chesapeake VA) pulled away from Daniel Estrada (Oak Ridge NC) to win the Boys 100 Meter Dash in 10.68 seconds. Estrada finished second in 10.74 seconds. Both runners were chosen for the National team.

In a close tactical race, Phillip Rocha (Arcadia CA) pulled away from the pack in the final 150 meters to win the 1500 Meter Run. His winning time of 3:57.36 was five seconds slower than his previous best run at the beginning of June in Los Angeles. Freshman Dalton Hengst (Owings Mills MD) was less than a second behind (3:58.58) in second place.

It was also close in the 800 Meter Run. A final burst by Connor Dunne (San Clemente CA) in the final 200 gave him the win running almost a 1 second personal best (1:51.71). Cameron Cooper (Oak Park MI) snuck by Hariharan Sathyamurthy (Brownsburg IN) in the final five meters for second place by sixteen hundredths of a second.

Isaiah Lucas (Houston TX) held off a charge by Norman Grimes (Canyon TX) over the final hurdle to win the 110 High Hurdles. Lucas’ time of 13.59 over the 39” high hurdles was only five hundredths ahead of Grimes (13.64). Grimes came back to win the 400 Hurdles making up the stagger by the halfway point and then holding on to run 51.67 to win by a half a second ahead of Ronaldo Griffiths (Brooklyn NY).

It was deja-vous for Austin Piperi (The Woodlands TX). For the second times as in as many days, Piperi won an event on his final attempt. In Wednesday’s Discus, Piperi threw 192-11 in the sixth round to overtake Gabriel Oladipo (Missouri City TX) to win the event. Oladipo’s throw of 190-11 was good enough for second place. Both Piperi and Oladipo qualified for the World Youth Championships.

Jaron Brooks (Lexington KY) was living on a tight rope in the High Jump relying on making third attempts on three separate heights to stay alive in the competition. Both Brooks and Darius Carbin (Mt. Pleasant CA) cleared 6-11 on their final attempts to stay alive in the competition. Carbin won the event on fewer misses.

Justes Nance (Blair NJ) slammed the door on the competition in the Boys Long Jump when he leaped 24-4 ½ in the third round. Nace won the event by almost two feet ahead of Denzel Harper (Stephenson GA).