U.S. OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS

London next stop for 2 Arkansas athletes

Spearmon leaves no doubt with shellacking of 200 field

Wallace Spearmon is headed back to the Olympics after finishing first in the men’s 200-meter final Sunday. Spearmon finished in 19.82 seconds and will join the U.S. team in London.
Wallace Spearmon is headed back to the Olympics after finishing first in the men’s 200-meter final Sunday. Spearmon finished in 19.82 seconds and will join the U.S. team in London.

— With a runoff in the women’s 100 meters still looming over the U.S. Track Trials today, Wallace Spearmon kept the men’s 200 free of controversy with an easy victory.

Spearmon (Fayetteville, Arkansas Razorbacks) got off to his customary slow start, but recovered in time to win going away in 19.82 seconds Sunday at Hayward Field.

His victory - and his chance for redemption at the London Games after losing the bronze medal to disqualification in Beijing in 2008 - was an expected finish.

Wearing his sunglasses, Spearmon overcame his shaky start and finished the 200 well in front of runner up Maurice Mitchell and Isiah Young. Arkansan Michael Tinsley (Pulaski Robinson), meanwhile, won the 400-meter hurdles in 48.33 seconds to earn his spot on the Olympic team.

Spearmon said he is anxious to erase the bad memories from Beijing, when he was disqualified for a lane violation.

“That’s definitely something that’s been on my mind since 2008,” Spearmon said.

“It’s hard to make one Olympic team, go and make the final, step on the line when you thought you had a medal, do about 300 meters of the victory lap and have to live with that. If I didn’t make the team this year, that would’ve been on my mind the rest of my life - the chance I could’ve had. Being able to go back and make my second Olympic team and have a chance at redemption, I don’t take my second chances lightly. I’m going to go out there and leave it all on the track.”

Spearmon was the obvious favorite in the field, which was somewhat diluted when sprinters Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay (Arkansas Razorbacks) decided to pass after securing spots on the Olympic team in the 100.And reigning Olympic 200 bronze medalist Walter Dix didn’t run because of a lingering hamstring injury that was apparent in the 100. Dix’s only option for making it to London will be as a member of the 400 relay team.

Shortly after Spearmon claimed his third U.S. title in the event, his good friend Usain Bolt ran the 200 at the Jamaican Trials, finishing second to Yohan Blake. Two-time defending Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown (Arkansas Razorbacks) finished third in the women’s 200 in 22.42.

Blake, Bolt and Spearmon are the obvious favorites going into London.

“Well, I guess I’ll see them in London,” Spearmon said. “I’m surprised, but I’m just going to worry about myself.”

“I wanted to get to the straight as quick as possible. When I get there, I just do what I do,” he said.

In other events on Sunday, defending outdoor champion Lashinda Demus won the women’s 400 hurdles in53.98, joining runner-up Georganne Moline and third-place finisher T’Erea Brown on the Olympic team. Leo Manzano won the men’s 1,500 in 3:35.75, followed by former Oregon Ducks teammates Matthew Centrowitz and Andrew Wheating.

“I knew I needed to stay calm, stay smooth,” Manzano said after becoming a two-time Olympian. “There were some times I kind of got caught up, but I just needed to stay calm, bring it back around and just shoot for home.”

Morgan Uceny won the women’s 1,500 in 4:04.59, earning a place on the team with runner-up Shannon Rowbury and third-place finisher Jenny Simpson.

Simpson has the American record in the 3,000 steeplechase, but switched to the 1,500 and is the reigning world champion in the event.

“The hardest thing about the trials that separates it from any other race you run in your life is that your emotions can slip away from you,” Simpson said. “On final stretch, I just felt this overwhelming relief. I didn’t even care my time or my place. I was just so happy the three of us were going to make it.”

Brittney Reese won her fifth consecutive U.S. title in the long jump with a leap of 23 feet, 5 1/2 inches. The two time world champion will be joined in London by runner up Chelsea Hayes and Janay DeLoach.

Brittany Borman won the javelin with a throw of 201-9. Kara Patterson was second at 196-2, but third-place finisher Kimberly Hamilton did not have the Olympic “A” standard need to qualify for the games and the third spot on the U.S. team went to fourth-place finisher Rachel Yurkovich.

Maria Michta won the 20,000-meter race walk in 1:34:53.33 for the lone spot on the team in the event, because no one had the “A” standard.

Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press.

At a glance

U.S. Olympic qualifiers in the men’s 200-meter run in Sunday’s final in Eugene, Ore.: 1. Wallace Spearmon 19.82 2. Maurice Mitchell 20.14 3. Isiah Young 20.16

Sports, Pages 15 on 07/02/2012

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