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USA Championships: Day 4

TrackTown, USA: Last Day. Best Day. Everything would come together this afternoon at Historic Hayward Field and the USA team for the World Championships in Tokyo will be chosen. But first, Carlos was taking us all to brunch at Marché. It has become a tradition to brunch on the last morning of the meet.

Perfect French omelet with herbs

Fueled up, we headed to our seats at the track. It was a bit cool and cloudy this morning and I am afraid the cloud cover fooled me into not wearing a hat and my nose caught a bit of sun.

There was so much excitement on the track today. Usually, the athlete we "assumed" would win/make the team did. And then there were plenty of surprises, when a long-time favorite will be watching the World Championships on TV. Out with the old and in with new? Not always, but after a while, a track and field athlete will need to retire. A 16-year-old high school boy made the US team by finishing 2nd in the 800m final. Texan Cooper Lutkenhaus will be a junior in high school next year... except he will be skipping a few weeks in September! His time was a shocker: 1:42.27 - one of the fastest American/World times ever, and his time sets a world record in the Under-18 age group. The stadium burst into wild applause and and joyous cheers. Such fun. His parents were shown on the big screen to even more cheers. During his infield interview, Lutkenhaus showed quite a bit of composure for a kid. Can't wait to see how he does in Tokyo.

Another fun race was the men's 5000m final. Two ex-Ducks, so you know we were cheering for them. One racer, Duck Cole Hocker, had already made the 1500m team on Saturday, but ran in the front for most of the 5000m final today. On the last two laps, his competitors passed him and surrounded him, but Hocker (as he did to win the 1500m Gold medal in Paris) slipped through the pack, passing on the left, to win! Grant Fisher (2nd place) and Nico Young (3rd) will join Hocker in Tokyo. The other Duck, Cooper Teare finished 5th.

New blood in the men's shot put! Gold medalist Ryan Crouser is injured and did not compete. Crouser's usual teammate, Joe Kovacs finished 4th and did not make the team. Well, that was weird.

Sha'carri Richardson did not get out of the qualifying rounds in the women's 200m, so will be concentrating on winning the 100m. At the end of the 200m final, the crowd fell completely silent. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won in personal-best 21.84, followed by Anavia Battle in 22.13. But who was third? The finish was shown again on the big screen, but the results were delayed. The poor ladies were anxiously waiting at the finish line. Seems three racers crossed the line together and the time had to be calculated back to the hundreths of a second. Crowd favorite, Gabby Thomas took 3rd place in 22.197, followed by Brittany Brown, 22.198, and McKenzie Long in 22.199. Wow! Talk about a photo finish!

If we thought the women's 200m final was exciting, the men nearly topped the ladies. Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarek were nose-to-nose at the finish line, with Robert Gregory in pursuit. At the last moment, Lyles passed Bednarek. Lyles not only won, but he turned his head to give Bednarek a stare... or maybe a glare) that Bednarek obviously did not like. After crossing the finish line, Lyles appeared to step in front of Bednarek and Bednarek gave Lyles a little push. Tough guy stances ensued, then a handshake and possibly a lecture by Bednark? Noah had better make up with Kung Fu Kenny before Tokyo! Watch the race on YouTube.

As usual, I am not covering every race, just the highlights (to me). It truly was a fabulous meet with outstanding weather. Our little group really had a great time and it was nice to see our friend, Carlos, again.

Track Fans!
Mary, Carlos, Steve, Terry & Dave

Everyone dispersed after the meet - to homes and airports. Dave and I walked down the street for pizza and called it a night.

Cheese Pizza from TrackTown Pizza

Until my next update, I remain, your tired, but happy, correspondent.

Links:
Complete race results