Ridgefield's Trey Knight finishes second in hammer at USATF champs and gets Tokyo standard...
EUGENE--Ridgefield native Trey Knight (photo courtesy Cal State Northridge Athletics), who was on the verge of fouling out of the men's hammer, threw 244-7 (74.56m) to stay alive and earn the last spot in the finals, then rode that momentum to finish second, setting a personal best and most importantly, pocket the qualifying standard to compete at the world championships in September in Tokyo, to highlight day one of the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon Thursday.
Knight, competing for Cal State Northridge, made up for fouling out of the NCAA West Regional championships by inching his way to sixth in the fourth round with a throw of 247-0 (75.29m).
After a foul in round 5, Knight put it all together in the final round with a toss of 258-5 (78.76m) to surpass his previous personal best of 255-7 (77.91m) set in March, as well as the world championship standard of 256-7 (78.20m).
Rudy Winkler won yet another US national title, throwing 267-3 (81.47m).
Walla Walla native Dash Sirmon, who competes for the University of Nebraska, finished second in the men's javelin.
Sirmon, trying to atone for his 14th place finish at the NCAA championships last month, was in fourth place after the second round with a throw of 239-7 (73.02m), where he remained until the sixth round.
In round 6, Sirmon unleashed a throw of 253-6 (77.28m) to overtake Marc-Anthony Minichello and Donavon Banks to earn the runner-up spot behind national champion Curtis Thompson's winning throw of 275-2 (83.89m).
Despite finishing in the top three, Sirmon is not inside the World Athletics ranking quota in the javelin. Sirmon is currently listed 75th in the World Athletics Road to Tokyo rankings.
As of now, Thompson is the only American with the standard in the javelin, while Minichello is inside the top 36 in the Road to Tokyo rankings.
There are several scenarios where Sirmon can go to Tokyo, the simplest being to throw 280-6 (85.50m) between now and the end of the qualifying period on August 24th.
In the first track event final of the meet, Lake Stevens native Taylor Roe finished third in the women's 10000, crossing the finish line in 31:45.41.
After sitting mid pack through the first 5000, Roe got herself into third at the 6k mark, then took the lead at 8000 meters, with Elise Cranny, Weini Kelati, and Emily Infeld right behind.
Roe held the lead through 9600, when the trio moved ahead of her.
Infeld took the win in 31:43.56, followed by Cranny in 31:44.24.
Kelati was fourth in 31:46.27.
Gonzaga's Rosina Machu dropped out of the race before the 7000 meter mark.
Roe and Infeld will have to wait until the end of the world championships qualifying period on August 24 to see if they get themselves inside the Road to Tokyo quota of 27 athletes, as neither are inside the quota. The only Americans inside the quota are Kelati and seventh place finisher Karissa Schweizer.
In the only other track final Thursday, Gonzaga alums James Mwaura and Wil Smith finished fifth, and ninth, respectively in the men's 10000.
In what was essentially a tactical affair through the first 8000 meters, Mwaura finished in 29:16.70, while Smith, making his pro debut, finished in a time of 29:26.15.
Nico Young blitzed a final 400 of 56.54 seconds to win the 10000 in 29:02.12.
Kelso native Erin Tack of the University of Arizona finished eleventh in the women's javelin with a throw of 155-11 (47.53m).
Washington State alum Lee Walburn sits in thirteenth after the first day of the decathlon, with a score of 3734 points.
Walburn, returning to the same venue where he snapped his Achilles tendon during the pole vault at last year's Olympic Trials, started the day by running the 100 in 11.03. He recorded a best of 19-6 (5.94m) in the long jump, then threw 50-1.75 (15.28m) in the shot put.
In the high jump, Walburn cleared a best of 6-0.5 (1.84m). He then ran 49.50 in the 400.
QUALIFYING ACTION...
On the track, there was qualifying action involving Washington athletes in the 800, 1500, and steeplechase.
In the men's 800, Isaiah Harris (1:46.07), Olympian Brandon Miller (1:46.16), Kyle Reinheimer (1:46.90), Cass Elliott (1:47.51) and Brannon Kidder (1:48.53) all advanced to Friday's semifinals at 3:38 pm.
Valery Tobias (2:01.75) of the Brooks Beasts advanced to the semis in the women's 800, finishing third in heat one, while teammate Kristie Schoffield (2:08.63) was eighth in the same heat. Tobias will run at 4:01 pm.
In the women's steeple, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich (9:30.49), former Seattle Pacific All American Kaylee Mitchell (9:37.74), and former Seattle resident Allie Ostrander (9:40.71) advanced to Saturday's final.
The men's steeple saw College Place native and Olympic silver medalist Kenneth Rooks win his heat in 8:21.35, while Parker Stokes of the Brooks Beasts earn a time qualifier into Saturday's final, running 8:22.60.
Seattle resident Sam Prakel ran a personal best of 3:33.08 to get one of the automatic qualifiers to Saturday's finals in the men's 1500.
NCAA champion Nathan Green (3:33.17) of Washington along with alums Joe Waskom (3:34.58) and Luke Houser (3:34.64) all got the time qualifiers to advance to Saturday afternoon's finals.
Current Husky Chloe Foerster (4:09.62), Washington alum Eleanor Fulton (4:10.94), Teagan Schein-Becker (4:11.70) of the Brooks Beasts and Claire Yerby (4:11.89) of the UW didn't advance to the finals of the women's 1500.
Here's who's competing Friday with Washington ties:
11:30 AM DECATHLON (110HH) Lee Walburn
12:25 PM DECATHLON (DT) Lee Walburn
2:05 PM DECATHLON (PV) Lee Walburn
3:30 PM M 400H (1st round) CANCELLED TO SATURDAY
3:38 PM M 800 (semis) Brandon Miller
Isaiah Harris
Kyle Reinheimer
Brannon Kidder
Cass Elliott
4:01 PM W 800 (semis) Valery Tobias
4:05 PM W HJ (final) Emy Ntekpere
5:25 PM DECATHLON (JT) Lee Walburn
7:06 PM DECATHLON (1500) Lee Walburn
Name in GREEN has the world championships standard.
Day 2 of the Toyota USATF Outdoor and Para National Championships will be streamed on USATF.tv ($), along with dedicated field event streams all three days.
NOTE: USA Track & Field, World Athletics, Brooks Running, and the sports information office of Cal State Northridge contributed to this report.
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