Americans on World Juniors Stage

Jul 24, 2014

Mary Cain busts a move on the Kenyans for 3K title

Watch her 3K win here!

Many looked to Mary Cain to deliver a rare distance medal for the United States at the World Junior Championships and she delivered in a electrifying fashion for her home crowd at Hayward Field in Eugene. Being jostled around and boxed in much of the race including the last lap behind two Kenyans, Mary Cain literally busted a move to jailbreak herself out and find daylight in the last 150 to close in a 63 second lap and claim the gold medal in the 3000 meter run with a time of 8:58.48. Lengthy post-race video interview with Mary Cain below.

Desiree Freier sets American high school & junior record in pole vault for silver!

Braheme Days Jr. next shot implement will be dipped in bronze!

Results, twitter updates, photos, and video interviews from Thursday's evening session (day 3) at the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships.

Recap - Results - Video Interviews

Day Three Recap - IAAF World Junior Championships (USATF Press Release)

EUGENE -- There were three U.S. medalists and six athletes advancing during the evening session of Day Three at IAAF World Junior Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

Mary Cain (Bronxville, New York) ran a strategic race en route to a World Junior title and the first gold ever for Team USA in the women’s 3000, winning in a lifetime-best 8:58.48. Her time was the second-fastest ever by a U.S. junior woman, behind only Ceci St. Geme’s 8:57.27 from 1982. Stephanie Jenks (Aurora, Iowa) was 15th at 9:31.47, and Cain invited her to run the victory lap with her.

Desiree Freier (Fort Worth, Texas) competing on her 18th birthday, set an American Junior record and became the first Team USA woman ever to medal in the pole vault as she cleared 4.45m/14-7.25 to claim silver. Freier passed the first two heights and then cleared her first attempts at 4.10, 4.20, 4.25, 4.30 and 4.35 to sit in first place after five vaults.

Her first miss didn’t come until the opening attempt at 4.40m/14-5.25, but she recovered to clear it on her second attempt and set an American Junior record. With the next bar at another AJR height, 4.45m/14-7.25, she sailed over on her first try to stay tied for first. Freier missed three times at 4.50m/14-9 and yielded gold to Russia’s Alena Lutkovskaya, who set a meet record with her second-attempt clearance at that height. Bonnie Draxler (Wrightstown, Wisconsin) was 11th with a best of 3.95m/12-11.5.

In men’s shot put, Braheme Days (Brigeton, New Jersey) opened up with a 20.01m/65-7.75 throw that remained his best as he became only the 4th U.S. men's medalist ever in this event, and the first to take bronze. Amir Ali-Patterson (Arcadia, California) was seventh, throwing 19.20m/63-0 on his best attempt in the finals.

Travonn White (Phoenix, Arizona) had his best effort on his second attempt in the long jump, spanning 7.72m/25-4 with a slightly-illegal wind. That mark earned him a fourth-place finish, just over four inches out of the medals.

Tyler Brown (Findlay, Ohio) of Eastern Michigan was in lane six, and Ohio State’s Lamar Bruton-Grinnage (New Castle, Delaware) was in lane eight in the 400m final, and the duo held a fast pace through the first 200m and into the final curve to remain with the pack. Both athletes struggled down the home straight, and Bruton-Grinnage placed sixth at 46.75, two spots ahead of Brown’s 47.30.

Nick Anderson of Kentucky had a tough start out the blocks in the men’s 110mH final and clipped several hurdles as he finished eighth in 13.93, behind the World Junior record of 12.99 set by France’s Wilhem Belocian.

Kaylin Whitney (Clermont, Florida) showed flashes of the form that took her to a World Youth best three weeks ago, running away with the third semifinal in the women’s 200 in 23.05, the second-fastest time overall. A tough first semi saw LSU’s Jada Martin (Lithonia, Georgia) finish second in 23.57 to advance to the final.

Trentavis Friday (Gastonia, North Carolina) separated himself from the field with 80 meters to go as he strided in for an easy and impressive victory in the third semifinal of the men’s 200 in 20.35, the fastest time overall. Kendal Williams (Jacksonville, Florida), last night’s 100m champion, had to deal with the tight confines of lane 1 in the first semi and could not make up enough ground off the curve to get among the leaders as he finished sixth in 21.10.

The women’s 400m final will feature two American runners after Olivia Baker (South Orange, New Jersey) and Kendall Baisden (Austin, Texas) of Texas posted the second and third fastest semifinal times to advance. Baker established herself over the first 250m in semifinal one and maintained a steady pace into the curve. She slipped down into second after the last turn but used just enough energy to retake the lead and cross first in 53.08. Baisden was dominant over the final 150m in the second semi and coasted to victory in 52.52.

RESULTS

Courtesy: IAAF

Time is PDT

/24	18:00	W	Pole Vault	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	18:05	M	Shot Put (6kg)	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	18:10	W	200 Metres	Semi-Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	18:35	M	Long Jump	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	18:40	M	200 Metres	Semi-Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	19:05	W	400 Metres	Semi-Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	19:30	W	Javelin Throw	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	19:35	M	110m Hurdles (99.0cm)	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	19:45	M	400 Metres	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	20:00	W	800 Metres	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	20:15	W	3000 Metres	Final	Startlist	Result
7/24	20:40	M	1500 Metres	Final	Startlist	Result