The "Tracktown USA" TV commercials were right on about the USA Olympic track and field team being the toughest team to make as many Virginians found out the hard way over the past two weeks in Eugene, Oregon at the Olympic Trials. Only three Virginians will be competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with Lashawn Merritt in the men's 400 meter dash and both Queen Harrison and Sheena Tosta (formerly Sheena Johnson) in the women's 400 meter hurdles. Merritt has an excellent opportunity at winning Olympic gold after defeating the 2004 Athens Olympics champion Jeremy Wariner at Hayward field, while Harrison and Tosta certainly will go to China believing they can run with the best in the World and challenge for top three medals.
Merritt's mild upset over Wariner and Harrison's improbable return from an injury at NCAA Nationals and leaping over a fallen hurdler late in the Trials finals were the top highlights and best stories of the meet among the Virginian natives, but there were also many stories of disappointments, heartbreak, and pleasant surprises as well.
Webb has to return to drawing board for 2012, while hurdle legend Johnson's career may be over
None bigger than Alan Webb failing to make the Olympic team in the 1500 meter run as he took fifth in the finals as the top three finishers all have the Olympic "A" standard. Webb had such an amazing 2007 season setting personal bests for 800 meters (1:43.84), 1500 meters (3:30.54), and one mile (3:46.91) with his mile time breaking the American record. His performances from a year ago seemed to be setting Webb up for great things in the Olympic year by riding off his success from a year ago.
However, something was definitely off with his running all season long. He opted to skip the indoor season to train and try to gear his peak to put him in position to run his best at the Olympic Games before the Olympic Trials. He raced in only two track meets prior to the Trials and ran nowhere near top form in either outings. After the results from yesterday's finals, the 25 year old native of Reston, Va must return to the drawing board and decide what needs to change in his running so he does not miss another Olympic Games in the 2012 London Games.
While Webb's still has some years left in him to return to the Olympics and prove himself on that stage, the 2008 Olympic Trials could have possibly been the end of a career of one Virginia's greatest track athletes ever in hurdler Allen Johnson. The men's 110 meter hurdles gold medalist at 1996 Olympic Games has enjoyed a long successful career now into his late 30s, but had contemplated retirement at the end of this year from the sport. Also a four-time World Champion, a lingering injury for the Lake Braddock grad returned in his first round at the Trials and he did not finish the race. He has made no official retirement announcement, but the odds are considered likely this was the final professional meet for one of the all-time hurdle greats.
Knocking on door of finals and Olympic berths, Central Region alum Wells and Woods can only think now of what might have been
Two female athletes in Kellie Wells and Shareese Woods were having stellar meets going through the rounds in their respective events and seemed destined for big races in the finals, but neither were able to get to the starting line of either due to unfortunate incident.
Wells had won her heat in the first two rounds of the women's 100 meter hurdles and looked great as well in her semifinal heat placing second, which would have given her a great lane position in the finals of lane three and put her as well of the favorites to finish in the top three. However, as soon as she finished her semifinal race, she went crashing to the track with an injury and had to be taken off the track in a wheelchair. Despite having the fourth fastest time out of the semis, the former James River High and Hampton University star was unable to start the finals dude to her injury.
Meanwhile, Woods had pulled off a shocker at the US Indoor Championships by winning the US 400 indoor title from a slower section. The Prince George High grad and former UNC-Charlotte athlete looked to be excelling in the underdog role once again as she appeared to have made the finals for the 400 meter dash after placing third in her semifinal heat. Not so fast though as it was soon learned afterwards she was disqualified from running outside of her lane too many steps. It is almost tougher for an athlete to initially think they have qualified and then later learn they did not.
Miller and Lewis find themselves in the worst spot of 4th, while Moffatt had the height but no standard
Another tough spot to be in is in fourth place at the Olympic Trials and one spot away from earning a trip to the Olympic Games. Two Virginians were stuck in arguably the worst place at Hayward Field: fourth. Virginia Johnson (also known as Virginia "Gigi" Miller) and Yvette Lewis placed fourth in their events with Johnson winning the final event of the heptathlon in the women's 1500, but just coming up short of earning the points needed to move into fourth place. Meanwhile, Lewis was a couple inches of third place after the final round in the women's triple jump.
Menchville grad Keith Moffatt might have had it worse than either Johnson or Lewis though as he actually cleared a height which equaled the same clearance as the second and third place finishers at the Olympic Trials, but the third and final spot on the US team went to the sixth place finisher who cleared a lower height in Eugene because Moffatt in fifth place and two others in third and fourth had not cleared the Olympic "A" standard in the men's high jump. The Olympic Team is determined by the first three finishers with "A" standards and in the men's high jump, the third finisher happened to be the sixth place man.
Bowman, Clark, and Fanning make finals as top collegiate finishers in fields
It was not all despair and heartbreak for the Virginians who competed at the Olympic Trials and did not make the teams. Charles Clark, Sarah Bowman, and Tasmin Fanning all ran in high school in Virginia and now all compete at major DI universities. Despite all having long collegiate seasons under their belt, the three athletes all had great weeks in Eugene as all three advanced onto the finals of their events as either the lone collegiate or one of the top collegiate finishers in the event finals.
Bowman was the only college runner in the women's 1500 finals and ended up finishing 8th in a finals of 12 athletes. After finishing third at the NCAA Nationals with a personal best time of 4:07.50, Bowman ended up being the top college peformer at the Trials. The University of Tennessee junior and former star at Fauquier High School seems to be back on the right track to making an Olympic team in 2012 after the promise she showed as a high school runner with a 4:36 mile and 2:04 800 in being billed as one of country's top middle distance hopes then.
Clark was joined in the 200 meter dash finals by his Florida State teammate Walter Dix and Dix showed he might as well be a professional sprinter now after winning the Trials in 19.86. Clark was not only able to surpass expectations by advancing onto the finals in one of the meet's toughest events, but also run really well when given the opportunity to make it to the final round as he placed fifth in 20.53. With Dix now graduating from FSU and moving onto the pros, next year will be Clark's turn to take over the lead for the Seminoles and make a run for some NCAA national individual titles of his own as well as try to help his team to defend their team title.
It took a school record performance by Virginia Tech junior Tasmin Fanning to make the finals of the women's 5000 meter run in Eugene as she broken her own school record by 10 seconds with her 15:37 run in the 5K semis. She nearly matched her time with another great race in the finals to finish 9th with a time of 15:41 as the first collegiate finisher in the field. Fanning never won a state title in either cross country or track at Western Albemarle High School, yet has improved greatly in college at Virginia Tech and now finds herself competing with very best in the US.
Who among today's high school athletes will be at the 2012 Trials?
Many of our current high school athletes watched the Olympic Trials on television or online this past week. Many of you rooted for and cheered on your Virginia natives in their pursuit of their Olympic dreams. Hopefully, a select few of you with the talent and drive also started making long term plans of qualifying to compete at a Olympic Trials in the future. There is a good probability there will be several current high school athletes who will be competing at the 2012 Olympic Trials when it returns back to Hayward Field in Oregon. Some of those future Olympic Trials competitors are already stars at the high school level, others will be late bloomers who do not start to really shine until the next level.
As the 2008 Olympic Trials showed, members of the Olympic team can come from anywhere. They can be native born from small town USA or be born elsewhere and come to this country seeking opportunity and the American Dream. They can be a professional athlete with a shoe company contract, individual coach, and few distractions away from running or a college athlete coming off a long season in which they ran a lot of races for their teams instead of themselves and plenty of classes and exams throughout the year to cram for. They could have been a state champion in high school or struggled to even make All-State. In a nutshell, the Olympic Dream is open to all to chase after.