Richards-Ross, Anderson highlight second day of Olympic Trials for Texas
June 22, 2012 EUGENE, Ore. – Six members of the Texas Women’s Track & Field family competed on the second day of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials with four advancing to the semifinals in their events. After opening with the hammer competition yesterday in Beaverton, Ore., the 2012 Trials moved to their home in Eugene where athletes will compete for a spot on Team USA through July 1. On a wet and cool day at Hayward Stadium, the Longhorns were represented in the qualifying rounds of the 400m dash and the 100m dash. In the 400m, Sanya Richards-Ross coasted to a first-place finish in her heat with a time of 51.69 to easily move on to Saturday’s semifinals. Richards-Ross won the event at the World Indoor Championships this year and holds the top 400m time in the world in 2012. Also moving on to the semifinals in the 400m was fellow former Longhorn Moushaumi Robinson. Robinson was neck-and-neck down much of the back straightaway with Oregon’s Phyllis Francis in a fight for the final automatic qualification spot in the first heat, but ended up fourth. However, her time of 53.02 was good enough to land her in 14th overall and move her to the next round. Rising junior Briana Nelson earned the opportunity to race in her first Olympic Trials after recording an Olympic Provisional Standard time of 52.40 in the 400m at the Florida Relays earlier this year. Nelson, running in the fourth heat, began her race strong on the outside lane but lost some ground in the final stretch. She finished in 56.13 and was 24th overall. “I had a really good first 300 meters but the last 100 was not good at all,” Nelson said. “I just went to move in the last 100 and didn’t quite have it.” Three current and former Longhorns also competed in the 100m dash qualifying heats. Alex Anderson won her second heat in a time of 11.19, besting Octavious Freeman of Central Florida by just one hundredth of a second. Bianca Knight placed third in her heat to automatically qualify for the event semifinals in a time of 11.26.
Rising senior Chalonda Goodman got her first taste of the Olympic Trials competing in the 100m and running an 11.55 for 26th place. Goodman qualified for Trials in the event with an Olympic A standard time of 11.23 to open the 2012 NCAA Outdoor season at the TCU Invitational. “Olympic Trials are in a whole different stratosphere it seems when it comes to competition,” Goodman said. “You have to regroup your mind and focus for this level of competition. It is so nice to be here and I still have one more event to go with the 200m and I’m really excited about that.” On Saturday, Richards-Ross and Robinson will race in the 400m semifinals at 5:15 p.m. Pacific. Anderson and Knight will compete in the 100m semifinals at 3:40 p.m. with finals for the event taking place at 5:52. Results: Friday, June 22 100m Dash (qualifying) |
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