Jordan Hasay at the Trials

Thursday Trials

For Youthrunner fans Thursday was a red-letter day with both Jordan Hasay & Christine Babcock racing in the qualifying heats of the Women’s 1500 Meters. Califronian Babcock was with the leaders early on as she vied with Tiffany McWilliams & Christin Worth for the lead. Former Bellarmine star Brie Felnagle, who ran this year for North Carolina, was also in the mix when the field reached the 800 meter mark, while Babcock began to show the strain of the effort and fell back into the pack. They raced through the next phase of the race & with a lap to go Worth had a slight lead with a time of 3:06. McWilliams and Amy Mortimer were right behind seemingly ready to move. In the end it was Wurth who prevailed winning in a time of 4:13.40. McWilliams was just a stride back in 4:13..54, while Mary Jane Reeves moved late to overtake Mortimer for third. Babcock found a late reserve and regrouped to claim 7th in a fine qualifying time of 4:18.12.

Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo, Ca. presented a much different picture in the second heat. To start with, while Babcock is much taller & muscular & appears to fit in with the older runners, Jordan is much smaller. As she stood at the line there could be little question, as to which runner was a high school star. Jordan also had been riding a rather emotional roller coaster, for she was an alternate on the qualifying list and did not know whether she would be able to run until about noon the day before (for some reason USATF did not post that news for fans until the next day.). Fortunately for her both Nicole Teeter, who earned an Olympic berth in the 800, and Oregon’s Nicole Blood both scratched from the race leaving an opening for Hasay.

Still, when the gun went off, it was Hasay who took the lead. Relating later that she felt that "she should just make a go for it, so I could say that I led the Trials for a bit" she carved out a time of 68.82 at the 400 meter mark. In tow were Erin Donohue & Shannon Rowbury. She had expected that one of the older runners would assume the lead during the second lap but there was the blond waif leading the pack into the wind with her blond hair blowing in the breeze. She maintained a two yard advantage over the large pack which loomed closely behind and reached the 800 meter mark in 2:22.35. The pack finally pounced late in the race and Jordan drifted back but with thoughts of still being able to break the American high school record she gamely held on as best she could. Shannon Rowbury came on at the end to take first over Amy Mortimer & Frances Koons took 3rd - all ran 4:13 & change. Like Babcock earlier Hasay finished 7th with a 4:18 and quali fied for the finals. Jordan, however, had already scheduled a plane flight out of Portland on Friday to head for the World’s Junior meet which will be held July 11th in Poland

In the third heat Lindsey Gallo edged Treniere Clement, Sarah Bowman & Carrie Tollefson, who all ran 4:17 to earn a berth in the finals. Both high school runners qualified but only one will race in the final.

Heat 1 Preliminaries

1 Christin Wurth Nike 4:13.40Q

2 Tiffany McWilliams adidas 4:13.54Q

3 Mary Jayne Reeves Oregon Track Club 4:13.89Q

4 Amy Mortimer Reebok 4:14.06Q

5 Morgan Uceny Reebok 4:15.93Q

6 Miesha Marzell unattached 4:18.12Q

7 Christine Babcock unattached 4:18.32q

8 Anne Shadle Reebok 4:20.34q –

DNF Brianna Felnagle North Carolina DNF -- Julie Culley New York A C DNS

Heat 2 Preliminaries

1 Shannon Rowbury Nike 4:16.13Q

2 Erin Donohue Nike 4:16.84Q

3 Frances Koons Villanova 4:17.86Q

4 Lauren Hagans Baylor 4:17.94Q

5 Sara Hall Asics 4:18.00Q

6 Jenelle Deatherage Reebok 4:18.35Q

7 Jordan Hasay unattached 4:18.39q

8 Katherine Follett Washington 4:19.00q

9 Keri Bland West Virginia 4:19.30q

10 Amanda Bales New York A C 4:32.71

Heat 3 Preliminaries

1 Lindsey Gallo Reebok 4:17.01Q

2 Treniere Clement Nike 4:17.33Q

3 Sarah Bowman Tennessee 4:17.48Q

4 Carrie Tollefson adidas 4:17.68Q

5 Emily Anderson unattached 4:18.77Q

6 Michelle Turner Washington 4:18.79Q

7 Dacia Barr Arkansas 4:19.51q

8 Nikeya Green Reebok 4:22.95

9 Natalie Picchetti Georgia 4:23.40

10 Amanda Miller Washington 4:24.45

The women’s 3000 Meter steeplechase saw Jennifer Barringer of Colorado do most of the work on the lead and Nicole Bush followed. Barringer ran a very even pace running laps of 76 for the most part. With two laps to go the race boiled down to a battle between Barringer along with Anna Willard and Lindsey Anderson and Nicole Bush fell off of the pace. In the end it was Willard, who pulled away to claim the victory with a time of 9:27.59. Anderson took 2nd with 9:30.75 while Barringer claimed 3rd in 9:33.11. Nicole Bush raced home alone in 4th with a time of 9:40.27.

In other finals Sanya Richards raced to an impressively fluid & strong victory with a time of 49.89. Mary Wineberg & Dee Dee Trotter edged Monique Hendersonwho placed 4th. In the men’s 400 Meters LaShawn Merrit (44.0) upset Jeremy Wariner (44.20) to claim victory & David Neville was 3rd in 44.61. Brittney Reese won the Long Jump with a jump of 6.95 meters as Grace Upshaw took 2nd (6.88) & Funmi Jimoll was 3rd in 6.72.

The preliminaries saw Alan Webb move early and roll to a victory with 3:41.27. He noted that he felt comfortable winning the last lap in 55.1. Bernard Lagat qualified for the final but finished a surprising 4th in that heat. Lopez Lomong won his heat with 3:43.48 while Gabe Jennings took the 3rd heat in 3:44.39. Jennings apparently felt so spry that he jogged off the track and continued to jog past the reporters waiting for interviews.