2009 US Track & Field Championships
June 25, 2009
Eugene, OR
4-time Olympian Amy Acuff (Isleton, CA) and Beijing Olympian Sharon Day (San Luis Obispo, CA) both qualified for the IAAF World Championships by finishing 2nd and 3rd in the Women's High Jump. Acuff and Day, along with the event winner, cleared 1.95m (6' 4 3/4") with their places on the podium determined by clearances at earlier heights. This will be Acuff's 8th trip to the World Championships ('95, '97,' 99, '01, '03, ‘05, '07) and Day's 1st. Competing at her last US Championships, Acuff said "I felt like I was really ready to go today and do some good jumping. It was a little bit of a challenge for everyone with a 4.0 meter-per-second tailwind. There was a lot of move the marks back, trying to gauge how strong the gust was." She added that "returning to the World Championships never really gets old. You always get nervous. You always have to rise to the occasion. I don't take it for granted." Day will get a day off on Friday before returning to the track on Saturday to compete in the 2-day Heptathlon. In her last multi-event competition, Day posted the highest score (6063 points) by an American in 2009 en route to winning the America's Combined Events Cup in Havana, Cuba.
Suzy-Powell (Modesto, CA), looking to make her 5th trip to the World Championships, fell short of her goal as she managed only a 5th place finish in today's final in the Discus Throw. Powell's best throw was measured at 60.29m (197'10").
In qualifying events contested today, Ryan Brown (Seatlle, WA) placed second in his heat in the 800m to advance to tomorrow's semi-final. He ran 1:48.17 in the 2-lap race, the 4th fastest time of the day. Latosha Wallace (San Marcos, TX) also qualified for tomorrow's semi-finals in the 400m Hurdles with a second place in her heat running 57.08sec. She goes into tomorrow's semi-final with the 6th fastest time overall. Jake Arnold (Tuscon, AZ) is in 5th place after the first day of the Decathlon with a total score of 4036 points. Jake will look to score big points tomorrow in the discus, pole vault, and 1500m.
Athletes who failed to advance to the semi-final round in their event were Greg Nixon (Columbia, SC) and Preston Perry (Houston, TX). Nixon was 6th in his heat in the 400m running 47.64sec while Perry was 6th in his 100m heat crossing the line in 10.35sec.