USA sweeps 4x400 relays, Nunley grabs silver in 110 hurdles

Bydgoszcz, Poland - Winning both 4 x 400 relays in convincing fashion kept the United States atop the medal count as the 12^th IAAF World Junior Championships concluded on Sunday evening in Zdzislaw Stadium.

In addition to earning two more gold medals with the relay efforts, the U.S. also had a silver medal from the 110-meter hurdles. As a result, the American topped the medal chart with 17 total medals, which included 11 gold, four silver and two bronze medals.

Kenya finished second in the medal count with 11 medals (four gold, five silver, two bronze) while Germany (six gold, one silver, three bronze) and Ethiopia (two gold, three silver, five bronze) tied for third with 10 apiece.

In the team scoring of the meet, based on points for top eight finishes, the United States led with 174 points ahead of Germany's 122 and Kenya's 102. Rounding out the top ten countries were Russia (96), Ethiopia (86), Ukraine (60), Cuba (59), Jamaica (57), Belarus (53), and Great Britain (53). Host Poland finished 11^th in scoring with 50 points.

The American women dominated the field once again the in 4 x 400. Texas A&M's Jessica Beard split 51.1 and turned Lanie Whittaker's (Miami, Florida) strong opening leg of 52.9 into a commanding lead with her second leg carry. Then Erica Alexander (Friendswood, Texas) and Miami's Takecia Jameson continued the strong effort with splits of 52.4 and 53.8 to complete the victory.

In posting a time of 3:30.19, the U.S. squad was a bit slower than the prelim mark they recorded on Saturday with cooler conditions playing a hand in that fact. Still the Americans put a gap of four seconds on runner-up Ukraine (3:34.20) and Australia (3:34.32).

It was the fourth consecutive relay victory for the United States women and sixth overall in the World Juniors. Previous winners were in 1986 (3:30.45), 1994 (3:32.08), 2002 (3:29.95), 2004 (3:27.60) and 2006 (3:29.01).

A bit more work was needed for the American men to garner its 10th gold medal in this event at the World Juniors with a winning time of 3:03.86. It marked the fourth consecutive victory in this event for the U.S. following a six-year run from 1986 to 1996.

During the first three legs Great Britain and Germany were in contention, but Mississippi State's O'Neal Wilder (45.4) and Washington State's Jeshua Anderson (46.1) completed the work put in by the first two legs, Baylor's Marcus Boyd (45.7) and Texas A&M's Bryan Miller (46.7).

The British were runner-up in 3:05.82 while the German squad placed third in 3:06.47. Jamaica finished a distant fourth in 3:08.58 ahead of Poland's 3:08.65.

The 1,500 final for women almost garnered another medal for the U.S. team as Jordan Hasay (Arroyo Grande, California) placed fourth in 4:19.02 behind two British runners and an Ethiopian. Meanwhile, Oregon's Alexandra Kosinski finished sixth in 4:21.26.

Stefanie Twell won the race in 4:15.09 with Ethiopia's Kalkidan Gezahegne taking second in 4:16.58. Emma Pallant claimed the bronze medal in 4:17.06.

Booker Nunley (Garner, North Carolina) overcame a sluggish start and moved from fifth to second in the final stages of the race to grab silver in a time of 13.45. Russia's Konstantin Shabanov lowered his world junior leading time to 13.27 for the victory. Jamaica's Keiron Stewart finished third in 13.51.

Anna Jelmini (Bakersfield, California) was seventh going into the final of the discus and remained there through the final three rounds with her best mark of the day measuring 49.46m/162-3. Erin Pendleton (Lindsey, Ohio) placed 11^th in the discus with a toss of 48.45m/158-11.

In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the pair of Americans in the final placed ninth and 10^th, with Dylan Knight (Riverside, California) clocking 8:52.90 and Curtis Carr (Nashville, Indiana) setting a personal best of 8:53.79. Jonathan Muia Nidku of Kenya won the race in 8:17.28, overtaking Uganda's Benjamin Kiplagat, the leader from the start, in the final 150 meters. Kiplagat, who opened with a 56 second first lap, finished in 8:19.24 for silver.

Running the in the men's 5,000 meter final were Oregon's Matt Centrowitz and Virginia's Ryan Collins amid a field of 16. Centrowitz closed well and moved up a couple of places for 11th place in a personal best 13:58.31 while Collins finished 16^th in 14:30.16.

QUOTES

Booker Nunley, 110 hurdles, Silver Medalist

"It's still my start that's not there. In the first part of the race I felt like I was about to go into another lane. After that I still thought I could catch everybody. That's what I was doing, but I've got to give the Russian guy his props. He's good.

"That was the first race we had against each other this weekend. I'm happy for him, but I wish I could have got the win. That's not the last you're going to see of me.

"During the whole race I kept thinking I could catch up to everybody, but obviously I couldn't. I really have to work on my start.

"I was really hoping to get the gold. But now I have college coming up with a whole new start."

Jordan Hasay, 1500 meters - Results

"On the bell lap I tried to move up, but got bumped out of my spot. I kind of ran a stupid race for the first half and then with 800 left I stayed in lane two, which is something I shouldn't have done.

"It's okay, I'm really happy with fourth. I just couldn't get them at the end. I'm happy with everything."

Alex Kosinski, 1500 meters

"I got stuck in the back, I did not want to be there. I was running all over the place, so what are you going to do.

"Even on the last lap I felt good, and then all that moving and jostling got to me in the end and I couldn't finish. I'm not very happy with my result."

Jessica Beard, 4 x 400 relay, Gold Medalist

"Running the second leg shows another part of me. I really enjoyed and I've never really had a chance to run it that much.

"I know we wanted the record today, but the conditions today were not as good as yesterday. I could even feel that on the backstretch with the wind blowing against me.

"We're happy with what we did and how we performed. It wasn't quite what we wanted, but we'll take it. We can't be too upset with what we ran, especially with the younger girls we had on the relay.

"Each year it's been a little different for me running on the relay. In China (2006) I ran first leg, last year at Pan Am Juniors I was the last leg and this year I ran second leg. So, I've been put in different positions and each time it's worked out for me."

Bryan Miller, 4 x 400 relay, Gold Medalist

"After this long season I'm so happy to finish it with this victory. This was a great experience. It's my first world team and I hope it won't be my last. I ran my best today."

Jeshua Anderson, 4 x 400 relay, Gold Medalist

"I just wanted to stay relaxed on the anchor leg and keep the lead so we could bring home some medals. I was still a little to tight from the 400 hurdles."

Marcus Boyd, 4 x 400 relay, Gold Medalist

"I'm thankful to get two medals, I wasn't expecting them to both be gold.

"We were going for the record, so we wanted to run our hardest even out front."

 

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