In an eventful men’s 400-meter dash preliminary round, Nike athlete LaShawn Merritt led the field, running a 45.36 seconds. In the lane outside of him, Tavaris Tate from Mississippi State — a friend of Merritt’s — fell around 250 meters into the race and did not finish. University of Oregon favorite Mike Berry also didn’t have the finishing time to qualify to the semi-finals. Due to the rain, the athletes had to change the way they ran their preliminary round.
“You have to adapt to what the weather is and how the track is,” Merritt said. “You can’t spin your wheels too fast in this first round anyway.”
With the rain pouring down, Francena McCorory ran the fastest time in the woman’s 400-meter prelims, with a time of 51.11 seconds. Oregon runner Phyllis Francis automatically qualified by placing third in the first heat, running 52.82 seconds. Rain wasn’t a factor for veteran Sanya Richards-Ross who is going into finals with the third-fastest time.
“I don’t care if it’s raining or how cold it is, I’m excited to start my journey to my third Olympic games,” Richards-Ross said.
Shelbi Vaughan, from Mansfield High School in Texas, broke the national prep record in the discus with a throw of 193’9”. She is seeded fourth going into finals. Stephanie Trafton threw the leading mark of 206’1” on her final throw of the competition.
Nick Symmonds ran a relaxed 2:00.61 in the 800 meters in the prelims, having seeded third coming into semi-finals. Oregon’s Elijah Greer will join Symmonds in the 800 meter dash semi-finals. Oregon Track Club’s Tyler Mulder is seeded first with a time of 1:46.8. Even though Mulder had the fastest time, he was holding back in Friday’s semi-final.
“I felt like I could have taken it and driven it a lot harder, but I’m trying to conserve some energy for tomorrow as well,” Mulder said.
Molly Beckwith ran the fastest time of 2:00.61 in the women’s 800-meter prelims. Nike’s Pheobe Wright was close behind her with a time of 2:00.83.
Tianna Madison is seeded first with a time of 11.10 seconds in the women’s 100 meters. Oregon’s English Gardner also qualified, running a time of 11.26 seconds.
“I don’t have anything to lose — and have all to prove,” Gardner said. “Today was basically just to get by and make it to the semi-finals.”
Seeded first after the women’s 100-meter hurdles prelims, Kellie Wells ran a smooth preliminary race, with a time of 12.68 seconds.
“My coach told me what plan to execute; ran it and executed,” Wells said. “Take each round as it comes and stay relaxed, you have to put yourself where you say ‘I came here to do a job, and I’m going to do my job.’”
The women’s pole vault preliminary rounds were canceled because of rainy weather, resulting in all contestants making it to finals.