U.S. Golds To Goodwin & Tarmoh At World Juniors
USATF News
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Goodwin and Tarmoh claim gold medals
on second day of Worlds
Bydgoszcz, Poland - Marquise Goodwin and Jeneba Tarmoh each garnered the first gold medals claimed by the United States team at the 12th IAAF World Junior Championships during Tuesday's evening session of the second day of competition.
Goodwin (Rowlett, Texas) used a first round leap of 25-4.75 (7.74) to secure the long jump gold medal. As the competition chased his mark, the closest they could get was a 25-0.75 (7.64) by Dzmitry Astrouski of Belarus. Christian Taylor (Atlanta, Georgia) placed seventh in the field with a 24-3.75 (7.41).
A mark of 25-0 (7.62) followed a foul in the second round for Goodwin, who became the last jumper for the final three rounds. In the fourth round a 24-7.75 (7.51) preceded a foul while his last round effort measured 24-6.5 (7.48).
With the victory Goodwin becomes the third American to claim the World Junior title in the long jump. He joins James Stallworth (1990) and Neil Chance (1992). Tone Belt was a silver-medalist in 2006.
In the women's 100 meter final Tarmoh (San Jose, California) had the best reaction to the gun (.154) among the eight finalist and drove out hard from that quick start. With Great Britain's Ashlee Nelson offering a solid challenge, Tarmoh remained ahead of the field and sped to an 11.37 victory into a -0.4 headwind.
Nelson posted an 11.49 for silver as Sheniqua Ferguson of the Bahamas finished third in 11.52. South Carolina's Shayla Mahan placed fifth in 11.66.
Tarmoh became the third American to win the women's 100 World Junior title in the last four Championships and the fourth U.S. winner in the past five meets. Previous U.S. champions at this meet include: Sabrina Kelly (1994), Shakedia Jones (1998), Lauryn Williams (2002) and Ashley Owens (2004).
The men's 100 provided a showdown between a pair of Jamaicans and U.S. sprinter Terrell Wilks of Florida. However, it was the lesser known Jamaican, Dexter Lee, upsetting the field with a 10.40 victory.
Lee's personal best of 10.33 seconds fell into the shadows of the 10.11 held by fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake, as well as the 10.19 recorded by Wilks.
South Africa's Wilhelm van der Vyver ran 10.42 for runner-up honors as Wilks crossed the line in 10.45 for the bronze medal. Blake finished fourth in 10.51. The race, run in cool evening temperatures, went into a headwind of -0.8 meters per second.
Wilks becomes the fifth American bronze medalist in this event, joining Rodney Bridges (1990), Tony McCall (1992), Deworski Odom (1994) and Willie Hordge (2002).
Earlier in the evening session, amid cool temperatures and another shower, the U.S. sprint squad advanced all four 400 runners to the finals.
Texas A&M's Jessica Beard and Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Florida) qualified in the women's 400 as Mississippi State's O'Neal Wilder and Baylor's Marcus Boyd moved on in the men's race.
In powering through her 400 heat Beard posted the second fastest time of the semifinal with her 52.59, nearly a full second ahead of the runner-up in her race. Nigeria's Shade Abugan won the first heat in a leading time of 51.92.
Whittaker was also in that fast first heat, which started during the drizzle that eventually turned into a shower for the second heat. Whittaker placed fourth in the race with a 53.61, but moved to third when Trinidad and Tobago's Britany St. Louis was disqualified. Whittaker was the top qualifier on time for the final.
The men's 400 started with an interesting race between Boyd and James Kirani of Grenada. A smooth start had Boyd as the early leader, then Kirani challenged through the curve and won in 46.55 while Boyd claimed the second automatic qualifying position with a 46.88. Boyd's mark was sixth best from the semifinals.
Wilder cruised to a leading time of 46.09 in taking the third heat, where he made up nearly every stagger in front of his lane five start by the 200 mark. Australia's Kurt Mulcahy placed second to Wilder with a 46.56.
Another qualifier for a final round was Louisville's Chinwe Okoro, who tossed the shot put 50-6.75 (15.41) to finish fourth in her flight and 10 overall among the 12 who advanced. Becky O'Brien reached a season best of 48-5.5 (14.77) to place ninth in her flight of the shot put and finished 16th overall.
Elijah Greer faced a stiff challenge in the 800 semifinals as he was stationed in heat two with current world leader Abubaker Kaki Khamis of Sudan. While Khamis posted the top time of 1:46.71, Greer placed sixth in 1:50.47.
The men's 10,000 meter final had Donald Cabral placing 17th in 30:47.55 while Daniel Dunbar finished 19th in 30:51.67.
Chase Dalton and Weston Luetz finished the first day of the decathlon separated by only 10 points. Dalton is currently 14th with a total of 3,632 while Luetz is 15th with a tally of 3,622.
QUOTES
Marquise Goodwin, Long Jump, Gold Medalist
"It was nice to get the winning mark in the first round. I warmed up great and then remained focused when we came into the stadium.
"In the final I was more prepared for things, like my mark being moved. After the qualifying round I remeasured my mark and had a secondary mark in line with part of the awards podium. This is my first world competition and the most competition I've had, so I had to get it right.
"It's every young track athlete's dream to be out here and competing for the USA. It's wonderful to have this kind of opportunity and compete.
"The jump I won with was my season best mark. I was shooting for 8.00, but it wasn't there tonight. I won and that's what I came here to do.
"This has been a great experience. We have a lot of great athletes competing in the World Championships.
Jeneba Tarmoh, 100 meters, Gold Medalist
"The false start really threw me off. I was so nervous I think I twisted in the blocks. I thought I could have got out better, but we always think this room for improvement in the next race.
"I never thought this would happen, because as a freshman going into college competition it's hard. Everyone is beating you and it's just different from the high school level.
"I was looking for an 11.2 in the final, but I'm tired and the others are tired from the rounds we ran.
"During my freshman season in college I learned that in running on this level you can't just expect to be good. In high school I was one of the best and then in college I'm not quite as fast as some other sprinters. It helped me learn that losing itself is not a bad thing. You gain experience with each race and there's always room for improvement."
Lanie Whittaker, 400 meters
"I'm excited to be here, and it was a great opportunity to race against the current world junior leader in this event. I felt like I gave my all today, so I'm pleased with my effort even though I'm disappointed I didn't PR today.
"Not everybody can make it here, so I'm really proud to be representing the United States in the final of the 400.
"I didn't want Abugan to be on my mind so much, but after she passed me my main focus was to try to catch her."
Jessica Beard, 400 meters
"Considering the weather and all, I was in condition to do even better. It was a strong wind and the weather chilled down a lot by the time we got on the track.
"I just wanted to win my heat and run one of the top three times so I can have one of the top three lanes for tomorrow. I can go faster tomorrow and I'll be ready."
Marcus Boyd, 400 meters
"When I went to make my move at 250, I almost veered out of my lane. So that threw me off a little bit. At least I made it to the final. I like to make my move after the 200, but the runners to the outside of me were going a bit slower than the pace I normally expect.
"Before the race I was trying to stay as warm as possible and remain dry as long as I could. Hopefully the conditions will be better for the final.
"It should be a great final tomorrow. I just need to go out and perform like I have this whole school season. Hopefully I'll come out with the gold."
O'Neal Wilder, 400 meters
"I wanted to run the fastest time going into the final so I can win this thing tomorrow with a good lane.
"My performances this season, including this meet, feels like all my hard work is finally coming through.
"Hopefully, Marcus and I can go 1-2 like we did at our Junior Nationals."
Chinwe Okoro, Shot Put
"Qualifying was okay. I didn't do exactly what I wanted to do, but hopefully I can get it done in the finals. This is the biggest meet I've been to, especially seeing all the other countries that are represented in this meet. It's been really fun to compete in this setting.
"College has really prepared me for meets like this compared to what I was doing in high school.
"The weather was really warm while we were in warm-up and things were going pretty smooth, but when that cold came it was different and hard to adjust to."
Elijah Greer, 800 meters
"Those guys are fast! Seriously, it was crazy. I wanted to out fast with them and I wanted to qualify for the final. I think I'm just tired from the season I've had. A lot of the drive you need in the 800 just wasn't there. Instead I felt fatigued physically with a very low drive. I know part of that comes down to experience and learning to push through that."
Chase Dalton, Decathlon
"I've had a really long and good season. I was looking forward to this meet, and having it become reality has been really cool. I thought I was going to peak here, but I didn't do as well in the shot put as I could have."
Weston Luetz, Decathlon
"The first day went pretty good. I ran a pretty good time in the 100 and felt good about that. I PR'ed in the long jump by three inches. Then the shot put rolled around and I didn't do as well there. I also didn't do very well in the high jump. So, in the 400 I knew I had to run a good race and I had a little incentive after my high jump.
"The hurdles will be a key event for me tomorrow, so I'm looking for a lot of points there. That's my best event and normally I'm a better second day person anyways.
"This is definitely an experience. It's been my goal since last September to get to the World Junior Championships this year. Now that I'm here I want to perform my best to see where it takes me. The competition is world class."
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