Baker and Gero-Holt win USA U20 400 hurdles & heptathlon title; Puget Sound's Rhodes surprises...
EUGENE--Bear Creek HS of Redmond senior Braelyn Baker (Paul Merca photo) held off a charge to win the 400 hurdles on the final day of the USATF U20 championships at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus, and earn a trip to the World Athletics U20 championships in Lima, Peru in late August.
Running out of lane 8, Baker got out to an early lead, and was ahead coming off the final turn. Tia Williams of Texas Christian, and Jasmine Robinson of North Cobb Comp HS in Kennesaw, Georgia made a late run at Baker.
Williams expended a lot of energy trying to catch Baker, and hit the final hurdle badly, putting her on the track. To her credit, Williams picked herself up and jogged to the finish.
Robinson maintained her form over the final hurdle, but it wasn't enough, as Baker took the win in 57.24 to Robinson's 57.31.
Both earned spots on the USA U20 team that will compete at the world U20 championships in August.
Washington's Kapiolani Coleman finished fifth in 59.47.
Wednesday, Baker, who won the 100, 200, 300 hurdles and long jump at the Washington 1A championships, finished ninth in the finals of the 100 meters in 11.84, hours after setting a personal best in qualifying of 11.64.
Emerald Ridge High's JaiCieonna Gero-Holt won the heptathlon title, scoring 5420 points.
The leader after Wednesday's first four events with 3465 points, Gero-Holt long jumped 5420 18-1 (5.51m), threw the javelin 114-2 (34.81m), and ran the 800 in 2:30.68.
One of the biggest surprises of the meet was the performance of University of Puget Sound freshman Alexander Rhodes, who finished third in the 400 meters.
Rhodes, who finished second in the NCAA D3 championships for the Loggers, broke 46 seconds for the first time in his career, running 45.93.
Westlake HS junior Sidi Njie of Atlanta won in 45.62, with Jayden Davis of Arizona State just hanging on to take second over Rhodes by a 45.92 to 45.93 margin.
Washington State's Grant Buckmiller was sixth in 46.49.
Rhodes will most likely travel to Peru as part of Team USA's 4 x 400 relay pool.
The Huskies' Jonathan Frazier finished fourth in the 400 hurdles, running 51.02, as Vance Nilsson from Gilbert HS in Arizona, the first high schooler to break 36 seconds in the 300 hurdles, won in 50.23.
NOTE: USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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