Puget Sound's Alex Rhodes among quartet with state ties at World Athletics U20 championships...
Four athletes with Washington ties are in Lima, Peru for the World Athletics Under-20 Championships that begin Tuesday.
The team was selected in mid June at the USATF Under-20 championships in Eugene.
One of the biggest surprises on the team is University of Puget Sound rising sophomore Alex Rhodes (photo courtesy UPS Athletics), who finished third in the 400.
Rhodes, who was second at the NCAA Division III championships for the Loggers, broke 46 seconds for the first time, when he finished in a time of 45.93 to just get nosed out for second by Jayden Davis of Arizona State, who finished 1/100ths of a second ahead to get the final spot in the open 400.
Rhodes is part of the men's 4 x 400 relay pool, which runs in the preliminary round on Friday, with the finals on Saturday.
He could also be called to action on Tuesday for the mixed 4 x 400 relay, which has its first round heat Tuesday morning at 7:30 am Pacific/9:30 am local time.
Joining him on the USA 4 x 400 relay pool is Washington State rising sophomore Grant Buckmiller, who was sixth in the 400 at the national championships.
The only man in an individual event is Bellingham native Andre Korbmacher, who is entered in the 110 hurdles, where he finished second at the national championships.
Korbmacher, a rising sophomore at Florida State, will run in the first round on Thursday at 8:20 am Pacific/10:20 am local time, with the semis three hours later, and the finals on Friday at 3:25 pm Pacific/5:25 pm local time.
Carnation native Braelyn Baker, who graduated from Bear Creek HS and is now a freshman at Duke University, competes in women's 400 hurdles, which begins on Wednesday morning at 7:38 am Pacific/9:38 am local time.
Baker, who was the national champion in the event, runs in the semis on Friday at 1:35 pm Pacific/3:35 pm local time, and should she advance to the finals, goes the next day at 2:35 pm Pacific/4:35 pm local time.
One significant athlete who elected not to compete in the world U20s is Puyallup native JaiCieonna Gero-Holt, who was 17th in the heptathlon at the world championships in Cali, Colombia two years ago.
Gero-Holt, who won the national championship in the heptathlon at the U20s, and was a finalist in the high jump at the US Olympic Trials, opted to bypass the meet, and instead transition to college, where she is attending the University of Illinois.
Gero-Holt, who would have been a rising senior in September, graduated early from Emerald Ridge HS in Puyallup, where she won three events at the Washington 4A state championships in May.
In the USA, the World Athletics U20 championships will be streamed on Peacock ($). In other parts of the world, World Athletics will stream via this link.
NOTE: World Athletics and USA Track & Field contributed to this report.
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