Bonney Lake HS grad Jordin Andrade finishes 7th in his heat of 400H as Olympic track & field opens...

TOKYO--Bonney Lake HS graduate Jordin Andrade (photo courtesy Envoy Air) finished seventh in his heat of the 400 meter hurdles as the track and field portion of the Olympic Games opened up Friday morning at Olympic Stadium.

Andrade, who ran collegiately at Mt. SAC and Boise State, finished with a season best time of 50.64, which was good for 32nd overall, as Abderrahman Samba of Qatar ran the fastest time of the first round in winning heat 1 in 48.38.

All three Americans--Rai Benjamin (48.60), Kenny Selmon (48.61) and David Kendziera (49.23) easily advanced to the semifinals set for Sunday evening.

University of Idaho grad and 2015-16 Washington State University volunteer assistant coach Liga Velvere's Olympic debut for Latvia ended after 100 meters of the women's 800. 

Velvere, who was a 400 hurdler at Idaho before transitioning to the 800, toed the line with her right leg heavily taped up and could not continue as the runners passed the break mark exiting the first turn.

All three Americans--Ajee Wilson (2:00.02), Athing Mu (2:01.10), and Oregon alum Raevyn Rogers (2:01.42) advanced to the semifinals Saturday night.

Track action continues Friday evening with Washington alums Amy-Eloise Markovc of Great Britain and Izzi Batt-Doyle of Australia competing in heat two of the women's 5000 meters at 7:26 pm Tokyo time (3:26 am Seattle time).

Results and start lists are available through the home page of the World Athletics Tokyo Olympics microsite.

NOTE: The Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, USA Track & Field, & World Athletics contributed to this report.

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