UW's Nathan Green finishes fifth in 1500 at world U20 champs...
The evening session was delayed two hours after a thunderstorm and heavy rains swept through the stadium as the heptathlon shot put entered the second round of throws.
A group of two Kenyans and two Ethiopians took out the pace early, going through the first 400 meters in just over 55 seconds, and kept the pressure on the rest of the field.
Green, who finished seventh in the NCAA 1500 finals in June in Eugene, stayed away from the first four runners, and concentrated on the rest of the field, staying in about eighth place through the first 1200 meters.
After passing through the 1200 mark, Green, the US national U20 champ, began picking off runners who tried to stay within striking distance of the four early leaders, but ran out of real estate in finishing fifth in 3:39.44.
Reynold Cheruiyot of Kenya, the world U20 leader this season, won in 3:35.83, followed by Ermias Girma of Ethiopia in 3:37.24. Daniel Kimaiyo of Kenya was third in 3:37.43.
In earlier action, the Huskies' Anthony Smith, who became eligible to compete for Türkiye at the end of June, advanced to the finals on Thursday evening in the men's 200 by setting a Turkish national record in both the heats and the semis.
In the heats Wednesday morning, Smith finished second in a time of 20.96. A few hours later, he finished second in a time of 20.83, just short of his personal best of 20.70 set in late April against Washington State in The Dual.
After the semis, Smith said, "I tried to stay locked into the race, not try to think about the rain delay too much. I just focused on what I could do. I can't control the weather, I can only control what I can run."
"During the delay, I sat down, relaxed, did a little bit of meditation to dial into the race, because it was two hours. This definitely gives me more confidence going in. I think I can run maybe 20.4 in the finals."
After the first day of the heptathlon, Emerald Ridge HS standout JaiCieonna Gero-Holt stands eighth with a first day score of 3367 points.
Gero-Holt started the day with a time of 14.76 in the 100 hurdles, then won the high jump with a clearance of 6-0.5 (1.84m) to jump all the way up to fifth after starting in 20th place.
She then threw 38-11.5 (11.87m) in the shot put to maintain her fifth place standing, then ran 25.84 to drop to eighth place overall.
As a result of the thunderstorm, the women's pole vault, which was scheduled for Wednesday evening, will be contested Thursday morning at 11 am local time (9 am in Seattle). Twins Hana and Amanda Moll of Olympia's Capital HS, who are among the top entries in the field, look to get themselves on the podium.
BATT-DOYLE FINSIHES EIGHTH IN COMMONWEALTH GAMES 10000...
In Birmingham, England, Washington alum Izzi Batt-Doyle of Australia finished eighth in the women's 10000 meters at the Commonwealth Games Wednesday evening.
Batt-Doyle, a 2019 graduate of Washington, where she was the Pac-12 10000 champion and an All-American at that distance, finished in a time of 32:04.74.
Eilish McColgan of Scotland won the race in a meet record time of 30:48.60, to match the victory by her coach & mother Liz, who won the Commonwealth title 32 years ago.
Thursday, Josh Kerr of the Brooks Beasts and Scotland, and former Husky Sam Tanner of New Zealand compete in the semifinals of the men's 1500, for a spot in the finals on Saturday.
Kerr is in the first heat at 11:25 am local time (3:25 am in Seattle), while Tanner is in the second heat nine minutes later.
Saturday's final will be contested at 1:10 pm local time (5:10 am in Seattle).
Washington alum Amy-Eloise Markovc of England is entered in the 5000 meters on Sunday.
Results of the women's 10000 at the Commonwealth Games are available here.
NOTE: World Athletics and the Commonwealth Games contributed to this report.
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