Crouser, Dunbar, Mathabane, Hasslen Go for World Juniors team in Iowa

By Lev Rourke
Photos by Kim Spir

Sam Crouser (left) will try to make the U.S. team for the World Juniors Championships at this week’s national championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Crouser has broken the U.S. Junior (under age 20) record in the javelin twice this spring, most recently raising it 11 more feet to 255-4, making him the 2^nd-ranked Junior thrower in the world for 2010. That record also became the national high school record. Crouser, graduating this spring from Gresham High School, is scheduled to attend Oregon in the fall.

The World Juniors will be held in late July in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. The top two finishers in each event at the U.S. Juniors, so long as they have met the international qualifying standard, will comprise the American team.

They include halfmilers Nick Symmonds and Christian Smith; miler Matthew Centrowitz; distance runners Shalane Flanagan, Lauren Fleshman, Amy Begley and Galen Rupp, and sprinters Ryan Bailey (pictured left) and Amber Purvis.

Purvis, (right) however, is entered in the 100 and 200. She ran only on relay teams at the NCAA after false-starting in the 200 at Regionals. This is her chance for redemption in an individual sprint. Nicole Blood, who was unable to score in the NCAA 5,000 – doubling back from the 10,000 – is entered in this week’s 5k.

Arthur Delaney, for example, the state’s dominant prep sprinter this season for Barlow, is entered in the 100 and 200 (10.42w/21.28). Although his entry times are well below that of others in the field, he has not run in warm weather once this year. This will be his chance.

Oregon freshman Jordan Hasay, who has had to contend with much older competition all spring, is entered in both the 1,500 and 3,000. She has the leading times in both. In the 1,500 she will be joined by fellow freshman Becca Friday, of Bellingham, Washington (right).  Friday is also entered in the 800 along with an incoming Oregon freshman, Laura Roesler of North Dakota. Friday has run 2:05/4:25, Roesler 2:03. In the 8 one of the other competitors will be the newfound star Ajee Wilson, of Neptune, N.J. Wilson, a high school sophomore, ran a 2:00.59 relay leg over the weekend.

 

100/200 Purvis; 1,500 Flanagan, Hasay, Alex Kosinski; 5,000 Blood, Fleshman; 10,000 Begley; pole vault Melissa Gergel; hammer Britney Henry, Caressa Sims; javelin Kara Patterson, Rachel Yurkovich; heptathlon Kalindra McFadden

100/200 Delaney; 1,500 Mathabane, Cole Watson; 5,000 Dunbar; hammer Matt Lloyd; javelin Crouser; decathlon Dakotah Keys (right), Nathanael Franks

Entries by McNamara, Stray are rejected

As entries to this year’s national championships were finalized on Tuesday, men’s Provisional entries – those that met the secondary standard but fell short of the automatic standard – were all rejected, according to information posted on the official USATF website.

As a result, University of Oregon athletes Jordan McNamara (5,000) and Jordan Stray (hammer) were denied entry to the meet.

In the Juniors meet, Oregon prep Greg Skipper withdrew his entry in the men’s hammer, as did Obum Gwacham of Oregon State in the high jump. Oregon native Kayla Smith, now a freshman at the University of Illinois, scratched out of the 100 but remains in the 200.

Keshia Baker, Oregon senior who placed in the 400, 4x1 and 4x4 for the Ducks at the recent NCAA championships, withdrew her entry to the Seniors women’s 400. /LR/