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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two-time U.S. Junior champion's Jessica Beard and Walter Henning won their third consecutive national title's in the women's 400 meters and men's hammer throw, respectively, and Henning broke the American Junior record Sunday at the 2008 USA Junior Track & Field Championships. The Championships take place June 20-22 at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium at Ohio State University. The top two finishers in each event will compete in Poland, provided that they have met the qualifying standard. In his first and only legal throw of the competition, 2006 World Junior finalist Walter Henning (South Huntington, N.Y.) broke his own American Junior and meet record in winning his consecutive national title with a heave of 73.87 meters/242 feet, 4 inches. His previous record of 73.59m/241-5 was set at this meet last year. 2007 World Youth fourth-place finisher Conor McCullough (Canoga Park, Calif.) was the runner-up with 71.16m/233-5.
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A 2006 World Junior 4x400m gold medalist and the 2007 Pan Am Junior bronze medalist, Beard (Euclid, Ohio) won her third consecutive women's 400m title, crossing the line in 52.23 seconds. Lanie Whittaker (Miami, Fla.) was the runner-up in a personal best 53.25.
Three-time Louisiana state champion Rachel Laurent (Houma, La.) won the women's pole vault in a meet record 4.22m/13-10. Clearing the meet record on her second attempt, Laurent then passed to 4.31/14-1.25 in an attempt to break the American Junior record and had three good attempts but failed to clear the height. The previous meet record of 4.21m/13-9.75 was set in 2001 by Amy Linnen. 2008 Nike Outdoor National champion Leslie Brost (Watertown, S.D.) had quite the weekend, winning the Nike Outdoor title on Friday at 4.04m/13-3 and the came to Columbus where she finished second in a personal best 4.10m/13-5.25.
Local favorites Ryan Fleck (Napolean, Ohio) and Erik Kynard (Toledo, Ohio) went 1-2 in the men's high jump. Fleck won his first national title with his clearance of 2.17m/7-1.5 and Kynard was the runner-up at 2.14m/7-0.25. Alitta Boyd (Union City, Calif.) won the women's triple jump on her last jump with a mark of 13.13m/43-1w and Kansas State's Tiara Walpool (Richardson, Texas) was second with 12.99m/42-7.5.
The 2007 U.S. Junior champion, Jordan Hasay (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) repeated her performance from last year and won the women's 1,500m, outkicking Oregon's Alex Kosinksi (Eugene, Ore.) down the final stretch to win in 4:18.44. Kosinski was second in 4:19.22. With an unofficial 55-second last lap, Evan Jager (Algonquin, Ill.) won the men's 1,500m in 3:47.43. Arizona State's Nectaly Barbosa (Prosser, Wash.) was the runner-up in 3:49.44.
The 2007 Mississippi state 200 and 400 champion, O'Neal Wilder (Carthage, Miss.) won the men's 400m in 45.62 and Baylor's Marcus Boyd (Fort Worth, Texas) took second in 46.02. Texas A&M's Bryan Miller (College Station, Texas) was third in 46.32.
BYU's Curtis Carr (Nashville, Ind.) dominated the men's 3,000m steeplechase, winning in 8:55.64. Nebraska's Mikel Thomas (Clovis, Calif.) was second in 8:58.67 and UCLA's Dylan Knight (Riverside, Calif.) was third in 9:03.37. 2008 World Cross Country team member Lauren Chetelat (Davis, Calif.) won the women's 3,000m, running 9:29.45 and Kathleen McCafferty (Summit, N.J.) was second in 9:42.82.
Oklahoma state champion Geoffrey Tabor (Ardmore, Okla.) won the men's discus throw with a toss of 59.57m/195-5 and Karl Gehrke (Moorpark, Calif.) was the runner-up with 57.94m/190-1. In the women's shot put, Chinwe Okoro stole the show in the competition with her winning throw of 16.16m/53-0.25. 2007 World Youth finalist Becky O'Brien (Cumberland, Maine) was the runner-up with 15.89m/52-1.75 and 2005 World Youth and 2006 World Junior team member Kamorean Hayes was third with 15.62m/51-3.
The 2007 World Youth 400m hurdles bronze medalist, Ryann Krais won the women's heptathlon with 5,217 points with marks of 14.03 (100h), 1.65m/5-5 (hj), 9.48m/31-1.25 (sp), 25.28 (200), 5.71m/18-8.75 (lj), 32.42m/106-4 (jt) and 2:21.19 (800). Texas state 100m hurdles champion Jessica Flax (Pearland, Texas) was second with 5,108 points.
The men's and women's 200m races were run into strong headwinds as each race saw winds over 2.0mps. Baylor standout Tiffany Townsend (Killeen, Texas) won the women's 200m in 23.60 and four-time champion at the 2007 USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships Victoria Jordan (Forth Worth, Texas), who placed second in the women's 100m on Friday, was again the runner-up in 23.73. On the men's side, Friday's runner-up in the 100, Antonio Sales (Chapel Hill, N.C.), won the men's 200m in 20.94 and Curtis Mitchell (Chula Vista, Calif.) took second in 21.03. This year's men's 100m champion, Terrell Wilks (New Haven, Conn.), was third in 21.08.
The winners of the men's and women's 10,000m RW each were members of Team USA for the 2008 IAAF World Race Walking Cup. 2007 Nike Outdoor Nationals 1 mile RW champion Matthew Forgues (Boothbay, Maine) won the men's 10,000m RW in 49:01.41 and Tyler Sorenson (Lafayette, Calif.) was second in 49:06.17. On the women's side, Miranda Mellvile (Rush, N.Y.) was the winner in 49:01.41 and Hope Christie (Somers, Wisc.) was second in 55:11.66.
For more information and complete results, visit www.usatf.org.
ATHLETE QUOTES
Walter Henning, Men's Hammer Throw winner
I'm really excited about going to World Juniors. I have a real good seed mark going in there from the beginning of May. Hopefully I can get healed up a little bit and be competitive.
If I didn't hurt myself I feel like I could have gone a little farther. I've had good practices the last couple of days and have been throwing far in practice back in Baton Rouge.
I strained my left quad on the first throw today. I had the same injury in January of my senior year, about a year and a half ago. I think it will be all right in a couple of weeks.
It popped right at the entry of my throw, so I had to struggle through four more turns to get through it. It felt good considering, but on the second throw I tried to see how it would feel and it just felt awkward and went to parts.
It's not so much about setting a record. The whole goal coming in here was to make the team. So, I just needed two people not to pass me. I was fortunate to come out on top today.
The U.S. is definitely in a huge drought with the hammer throwers internationally. Hopefully Conor and I will be able to get over there and change that.
Miranda Melville, women's 10k Race walk winner
We just stayed relaxed. My teammate pushed me and stayed up with me, so we were just relaxed out there.
It was pretty hot there at the end. It felt goof and everyone did a great job out there.
Matthew Forgues, Men's race walk winner
I got really crappy sleep and worked until midnight the night before I came out. I felt kind of rough.
I did enough to win. I did what I had to do.
O'Neil Wilder, men's 400 winner
I really didn't get out, I feel like I could've gotten out stronger. I'm a good wind runner so I came through strong on the last 100.
It's a very big honor to represent your country. Not too many people can say that. I'm just thankful.
Jordan Hasay, women's 1500m winner
It was a good race. It seemed to go pretty quickly since I've been running longer distances lately. It was a good effort. I wanted to come out and win and defend my title from last year.
I knew I'd be competing against a good group of runners. I just needed to stay calm and patient and down to the last 100 I pulled it off.
At worlds I'm a little more competitive in the 1500.
Antonio Sales, Men's 200 winner
This is exciting, it's my first time to come here and the goal was to make the team. I didn't have a good outdoor season on the NCAA level, so I wanted to run here and finish my season strong with a win.
The whole goal was to get on the team and gain experience that will help me compete in the NCAA next season, especially against the caliber of sprinters in the SEC.
Wilks and I are good friends and we talked about this race a lot. I would prefer to have been on the lane inside of him, but the luck of the draw I was inside of him. So, I knew I had to run the turn hard and then finish strong.
The wind was something crazy. So to run 20-point in this kind of weather, with a negative wind (2.2), is very impressive. It was rough out there because of the wind. I had to maintain my technique like my coach and I talked about before my race. I trield to pump it and lift home and then I got it. The wind was coming pretty hard in the homestretch, especially the last 30 meters.
Tiffany Townsend, women's 200m winner
My whole goal was to just get out and hold on. I still feel like I didn't get out or execute in the curve. Overall it was a win and I'll take that. I wish I would've run faster but a win is a win.
Geoffrey Tabor, Men's Discus winner
Coming into this competition I have been throwing the heavier discus pretty far. Looking at the other marks coming in I knew I could have a shot at winning. But there were a lot of other great throwers here who could beat me.
Throughout the competition I was sitting in fifth or sixth. I was a little tight and I just relaxed on my last throw and got me feet down. I was able to win on my very last throw. It was effortless and that's how it should feel.
When I was pulling it on my last throw I said 'I won', I knew it. The disc throwers out there will know what I'm talking about. When you get that pull and you get that block it just flies out there. Of course when I saw it, I said 'yeah, that's a good one.'
Rachel Laurent, Women's Pole Vault winner
It's a great way to end my senior year. I've been looking forward to this since last year and I've been working really hard to get it. It would have even been better if I could have set a PR and broke the national record. But I'm still really excited and I don't think it has quite hit me yet.
The first goal was to make the team and I didn't care about anything else except that. The second goal was to get the record.
I'm looking forward to competing in an international meet and jump with other girls from all over the place. It will be great to get that experience. I hope I can jump 14-1.5 there, that would be awesome.
Ryan Fleck, Men's High Jump winner
Last year I qualified for the team, but didn't have a passport. So that was a chip on my shoulder and I wanted to make it this year.
Coming into this meet I've cleared 7-0 for five straight weeks. Anything under that would have been a disappointment. In studying the field I knew if I cleared 7-0 then I would have a good chance of making it out. So we were setting ourselves up for that height. It came through for me and my coach.
Today's competition wasn't a good one for me. My form was pretty shaky. I have a summer job and haven't been able to practice that much. So, I got it done, but in a hard way. It's still good, but a bit ugly.
Chinwe Okoro, women's shot put winner
My throws went well, I kind of surprised myself. I wasn't expecting to reach mid 50s. I was happy.
I was second in the discus so I really tried to get out there.
It's very exciting to represent my country.
Curtis Carr, Men's Steeplechase winner
I'm super pleased to run with the field I did and come out on top.
The whole season I was focused on this meet. My tapering worked, my workouts worked.
I went when I thought there were 2 laps to go, but there were three.
I'm really pleased to represent the U.S.
Ryann Krais, Heptathlon winner
There were some low points over the two days, especially yesterday. That was not exactly what I would call my A game. With the competition I really had to pick it up today. I thank God for them that they were there and pushing me so hard.
I'm hoping to pull my act together for the World Juniors and have a result like I did two weeks ago with my 5522 at the Great Southwest meet. My goal was to be at 5534, so hopefully I can get to that range again.
I'm going to run the 400 hurdles at the Olympic Trials. I know I don't have a chance of making the team, but I'm looking forward to the experience. I hope I can be in that situation again in a few years really going for making the team then.
Evan Jager, Men's 1500 winner
With the guys ahead of me I thought I could put a kick on them in the last lap. So I pulled up along side of the leaders on the first curve of the final lap. Then I put my move on with 300 to go. I held on for the last 150 and kicked it in.
Getting into the end of the season, after I made it to the NCAAs, I was on a pretty big high from that. The next goal I just wanted make sure I got to junior nationals and make the world team. Now I want to run my best at Worlds and see how I compete against guys throughout the world.
Laurynne Chetelat, Women's 3000 winner
It felt pretty relaxed. My first goal was to win, the second goal was getting the qualifying time for World Juniors. I achieved both, so I'm happy.
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