Hill doubles gold on final day of Junior Championships

6/17/2012

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Tyreek Hill pulled away from the field in the men’s 200m taking home his second gold medal to highlight the final day of competition at the USA Junior Championships in Bloomington, Ind. at Indiana University.

The Junior Championships serve as the selection meet for the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships, scheduled for July 10-15 in Barcelona, Spain. The top two finishers, provided they have met the qualifying standards in each event, will be invited to compete in Barcelona as members of Team USA.

Hill won the 100m (10.28) on Friday and closed with a 20.57 in the 200m. Hill, who had a large cheering section of family watching him win, will compete in both events for Team USA at the World Junior Championships.

“They go to every track meet I go to,” Hill said of his family. “Right now I’m tired but I’m really happy,” Hill said. “It’s a very good experience for me and my family.”

The women’s heptathlon came down to an exciting battle between Kendell Williams of Kell High School.(Marietta, Ga.) and Erica Bougard of Mississippi State. Williams led the field with the top score through the first six events. The tables turned in the final event as Bougard was able to gain an edge over Williams with a 2:14.39 victory in the 800m. Williams finished nearly 15 seconds back in 2:29.47. Bougard took gold with 5,547 points while Williams took the runner-up spot with 5,481 points.

“I heard them calling her name so I thought she was right behind me but it turned out she wasn’t, so I was pretty stoked,” Bougard said. “It means a lot to me but I know but I know I really have to push it because I’m 10th [on the World Junior list] and I want to be at least top five.

The women’s and men’s 1,500m races produced exciting finishes by both Bronxville High School sophomore Mary Cain and Austin Mudd of the University of Wisconsin. Cain’s early pace pushing and depth of competitors in the field helped her to reach a new personal best of 4:14.74 while Mudd had to fight to the finish to win in 3:46.50. Cain bettered Jordan Hasay’s Junior meet record of 4:16.98 set in 2007.

“I wanted to PR, so I’m excited, Cain said. “I’m used to running alone, so I was pumped. I knew they would not just let me go, they would be on me this whole time and that’s exactly what they did. It was a big honor running with them.”

“I knew people were going to key off me having the fastest seed time coming into the meet so my coach and I decided to take it out a little faster than I’m used to,” Mudd said. “I was mid-pack going into the last 200m so I was trying to run as fast as I could until I saw the finish.”

In the final event of the day, Rodney Brown of Louisiana State University broke the USA Junior meet record in the men’s discus with a throw of 62.99m/206-8. Brown’s throw bettered the previous meet record, set by Mason Finley in 2009, by over two feet.

Winners from today’s events include:
Men’s 10,000m race walk: Tyler Sorensen (45:35.46)
Women’s 10,000m race walk: Maite Moscoso (54:32.82)
Women’s pole vault: Emily Grove (4.24m/13-11.0)
Men’s discus: Rodney Brown (62.99m /206-8)
Women’s triple jump: Jennifer Madu (13.5m/42-9.75)
Men’s high jump: Alexander Bowen (2.09m/6-10.25)
Women’s shot put: Christina Hillman (16.10m/52-10.0)
Women’s 400m: Ashley Spencer (51.68)
Men’s 400m: Aldrich Bailey (45.37)
Women’s 1,500m: Mary Cain (4:14.74)
Men’s 1,500m: Austin Mudd (3:46.50)
Women’s 200m: Olivia Ekpone (23.18)
Men’s 200m: Tyreek Hill (20.57)
Men’s 3,000m steeplechase: Darren Fahy (9:06.83)
Women’s 3,000m: Aisling Cuffe (9:28.93)
Women’s heptathlon: Bougard (5,547 points)

Complete results can be found here.


Emily Pritt
Communications Intern
USA Track & Field
e-mail