Hammer holds true to form at Nike campus; Bingson gets A standard to make team...
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| AG Kruger & Kibwe Johnson (Paul Merca photo) |
In front of a crowd of 3000 spectators, Johnson, the defending US national champion took command early with a round 1 toss of 244-1 (74.40m) and was never challenged, improving to 245-11 (74.97m).
Kruger opened with a first round throw of 242-6 (73.93m), which turned out to be his best of the day.
Chris Cralle threw a lifetime best of 243-11 (74.35m) in round two, and improved by one centimeter in round five (74.36m) to take second.
However, Cralle will not make the trip to London, as he did not have the Olympic A standard of 255-11 (78.00m), which Johnson and Kruger had in their pockets entering the meet.
Afterwards, Johnson talked about his move to British Columbia, a move that he felt he had to do to be competitive at the international level.
"I had to bite the bullet, and it was a bit of a sacrifice," he said of moving to Kamloops, British Columbia to train under famed Soviet coach and Olympic champion Anatoliy Bondarchuk.
Michael Mai, formerly stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, finished tenth with a best of 225-8 (68.78m).
In the women's competition, Amber Campbell took the victory at 235-6 (71.80m), after being pressed by collegian Amanda Bingson of UNLV at 235-6 (71.78m), who surpassed the Olympic A standard of 234-7 (71.50m) by nearly a foot.
American record holder Jessica Cosby took third with a toss of 232-2 (70.77m), as Gwendolyn Berry, the only other American with the A standard finished seventh at 225-10 (68.84m).
Spokane native Britney Henry finished ninth at 224-7 (68.47m), while South Whidbey HS alum Kimery Hern was 17th overall at 201-0 (61.27m).
The eyes of American track & field focuses 100 miles to the south, as the meet proper begins Friday at 1 pm at Hayward Field in Eugene on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Complete results from the prologue of the US Olympic Trials are available here.
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