PORT OF SPAIN - Team USA picked up another 19 medals as the men and women won the 4x100-meter relays, Curtis Beach won the decathlon and Chalonda Goodman won her second and third gold medals Saturday night at the 2009 Pan Am Junior Championships at Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Team USA dominated the sprint relays, winning the men's and women's 4x100-meter relays. Jessica Davis (Los Angeles, Calif.), Amber Purvis (Benicia, Calif.), Tasha Allen (Milwaukee, Wisc.) and Chalonda Goodman (Newnan, Ga.) got the stick around the track in 44.09 to beat Jamaica (44.96) and Trinidad and Tobago (45.38). Keyth Talley (Tuscaloosa, Ala.), D'Angelo Cherry (Jonesboro, Ga.), Trevante Rhodes (Austin, Texas) and Marcus Rowland (Spartanburg, S.C.) set a Championship record in winning the men's 4x100m relay in 39.06.
For the fourth time in the history of these Championships, Team USA went 1-2 in the decathlon. Running a stunning 4:20.54 in the 1,500m to close out the competition, Curtis Beach (Albuquerque, N.M.) won the decathlon with 7,377 points. Gray Horn (Gainesville, Fla.) finished as the runner-up with 6,982 points and had an individual win in the 110m hurdles in 14.35.
Chalonda Goodman won her second individual gold medal of these Championships in winning the women's 200m in 23.08. Tasha Allen brought home the silver in 23.51. On the men's side, Keyth Talley took second in 20.78 and claimed the silver medal.
Maya Pressley (Coconut Creek, Fla.) and Krystle Schade (Sunrise, Fla.) won gold and silver in the women's high jump, each clearing 1.76m/5-9.25. Pressley got the win for having clean attempts through 1.76/5-9.25, while Schade took second after one miss as the winning height. 2008 World Junior champion Marquise Goodwin (Garland, Texas) won the silver medal in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.85m/52-9.25. Alex Madkins (Oklahoma City, Okla.) was fifth with 7.46m/24-5.75.
Sarah Andrews (The Woodlands, Texas) and Aisling Cuffie (New Windsor, N.Y.) controlled the race in the women's 5,000m, running together in first and second through most of the race. With 400m to go, Andrews started pulling away from Cuffie and crossed the line in 16:42.38. Cuffie was second in 16:47.45. Parker Stinson (Cedar Park, Texas) ran into a third-place finish in the men's 10,000m, claiming the bronze medal in 31:48.35. Anthony Solis (Ontario, Calif.) finished fifth in 32:33.79.
Team USA once again went 1-2 in the pole vault, this time on the men's side. Two-time USA Junior champion Jack Whitt (Norman, Okla.) was the victor, clearing 5.20m/17-0.75 and Mike Arnold (Salt Lake City, Utah) the runner-up at 5.10m/16-8.75.
In the men's 3,000m steeplechase, 2009 USA Junior champion Sean Soderman (Charlotte, N.C.) moved into the lead with five laps to go and fought hard to keep it, battling Canada's Mattias Wolter the entire way. But with 300m to go, Wolter kicked into a gear that Soderman just didn't have to win the race in 9:05.28 with Soderman winning silver in 9:10.75. Syracuse's Joe Whelan (Hamburg, N.Y.) slipped and got banged up at the first water barrier, but picked himself back up and ran his own race to finish sixth in 9:24.53.
Team USA picked up two medals in the women's discus throw as Anastasia Jelmini (Bakersfield, Calif.) and Erin Pendleton (Elmore, Ohio) went 2-3. Jelmini won her second medal of the competition with a runner-up toss of 54.91m/180-2 and Pendleton took bronze with 48.01m/157-6. On her last throw of throw of the women's hammer competition, Elizabeth Rohl (Chicago, Ill.) launched a toss of 54.24m/177-11 to claim the bronze medal. Casey Kraychir (Desert Hot Springs, Calif.) finished in fifth with a best mark of 52.62m/172-8.
Trevor Barron (Bethel Park, Pa.), who just a few weeks ago took fourth in the boys 10,000m race walk at the 2009 World Youth Championships, took fourth this morning in the 10,000m race walk crossing the line in 42:50.51. In what is becoming his signature style, Barron started out at the back of the pack and continually worked his way to the front and for some time was in third place. But coming down the final straight, Barron was passed by the fast-moving Giovanni Torres who claimed bronze in 42:46.89. Matthew Forgues (Boothbay Harbor, Maine) finished ninth in 48:42.58.
In qualifying action at the track tonight, Chanelle Price (Knoxville, Tenn.) won her heat in the women's 800m in 2:08.04 and Laura Roesler (Fargo, N.D.) took third in her heat in 2:13.32 as each automatically qualified for tomorrow's final. Joseph Abbott (1:52.30, Reno, Nev.) and Dylan Ferris (1:53.64, San Francisco, Calif.) won their respective heats in the men's 800. Dalilah Muhammad (Bayside, N.Y.) won heat 1 in the women's 400m hurdles in 59.42 and Turquoise Thompson (San Diego, Calif.) took second in heat 2 in 1:00.40. William Wynne (Gainesville, Fla.) set a Pan Am Championship record in winning heat 1 in the men's 400m hurdles in 49.89 and Reggie Wyatt (Riverside, Calif.) won heat 2 in 50.68. The previous record of 50.03 was set by two-time Olympic gold medalist Angelo Taylor in 1997.
At the conclusion of day one in the heptathlon, Ryann Kraiss (Eagleville, Pa.) is in second place with 3,319 points and Rebecca Neville (Merrillville, Ind.) is in sixth with 2,923 points.
More coverage
MileSplit US - Summaries, articles
National Scholastic - On-site coverage, video interviews, photos, event summaries
USATF - Photos, Results, Articles
CFPI Timing - Results