New U.S. U20 Team Begins To Take Shape; Jaslene Massey, Keenen Davis Nearly Break High School National Record; Quincy Wilson Cruises Into 400 Meters Final

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Sam Givner and Ken Martinez

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

EUGENE -- The majority of the teen track and field athletes who will comprise the U.S. U20 team that competes in August at the World Athletics U20 Championships will have a year of college behind them, but the fastest members of the team are coming straight out of high school. 

Tate Taylor, the high school record holder in the 100 and 200 meters, and Mia Maxwell, who is No. 6 all-time in the 100, both won the USATF U20 finals in the dash on Thursday at Hayward Field. 

Taylor defeated Ohio State's Kyler Brown in the men's final, 10.15 to 10.21. High school sophomore Dillon Mitchell was third in 10.22. Brown last week ran a leg on Ohio State's third-place 4x100 relay at the NCAA Championships. 

"I've wanted that (Team USA) kit for a long time, so to finally have it feels really good," Taylor said. "I'm so excited to represent my country."

Maxwell won the women's final in 11.08 and her twin sister Mariah finished second in 11.33 seconds. 

"I'm happy it was wind-legal because I haven't had any wind-legal races this year," Mia Maxwell said. "This is going to keep pushing me to do better."

The U.S. may enter three athletes in an event at the Aug. 5-9 World U20 Championships, but the third-place athlete is mostly likely to be an alternate. In the sprints, the U.S. can select as many as six in order to have a relay pool. 

A pair of high school national records came under fire on Thursday and may not survive the weekend. 

In the men's 400-meter hurdles prelims, Keenen Davis (Archbishop Carroll DC) won his heat in 49.40 seconds. That nearly matched Kenneth Ferguson's long-standing record of 49.38 from 2002. (Ferguson is married to Allyson Felix). 

In the women's discus, Jaslene Massey, the Oregon recruit and California state champion from Niguel Aliso in Orange County, hit a long throw of 197-9 in the sixth round. That nearly matched the record of Shelbi Vaughn, who threw 198-9 at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. LSU freshman Jillian Scully got the second spot. 

Davis will get another shot at the hurdles record in Friday's final. Massey will get another opportunity to have six more attempts in the Nike Outdoor Nationals event this weekend.

In the men's 400 meters, Bullis School MD graduate Quincy Wilson breezed through the prelim with a season's best time of 45.28 seconds. Wilson will race in the final Friday before flying East to rejoin his teammates at New Balance Nationals Outdoor. NCAA second- and third-place finishers Jonathan Simms and Sidi Njie of Georgia, who were on the startlist, did not run. 

New Jersey prep standout Natalie Dumas qualified for the finals in both the women's 400 meters and 400-meter hurdles. She ran the 400 first in 52.20, fourth-fastest in the prelim round, and 58.22 a little more than an hour later in the hurdles, which was the fastest time in that event. 

In the women's 800 meters prelims, Paige Sheppard (Union Catholic NJ) won her heat in 2:07.10. The fastest time of 2:06.11 came in the other heat, by Michigan's Emmry Ross. 

Carter Beasley of Drake led the men's 800 meters qualifiers with 1:49.04.  

A pair of exciting 5,000-meter races opened the day. Illinois state champion Mia Sirois pulled away from NCAA 10,000 meters seventh-place finisher Rylee Blade of Florida State over the final 800 meters to win the U20 title in 15:46.74. That made Sirois the sixth-fastest runner in prep history. With 300 meters to do, North Carolina State freshman Emily Wisniewski passed Blade and kicked to a second-place finish in 15:54.39. 

In the men's race, Oregon freshman Juan Gonzalez and Jack Bidwell of Michigan got to the finish line just ahead of Princeton's Tristan Yoder to secure the two team berths. All three of them were within two-tenths of a second. Gonzalez's winning time was 14:13.06.

Hannah Grace of Tennessee, who placed sixth at the NCAA Championships a week ago, won her second USATF U20 title in the women's pole vault. She cleared 14-7.25 and took three attempts at meet record 15-0.50 (4.58m). 

Grace will be joined on Team USA by Kylie Neira of Florida International University, who made 13-11.25. 

Simon Rosselli (Mead WA), another future Duck, won the men's discus with 205-7. Chris Marcell of Marathon WI was second with 200-6. 

Jaxon Jerabek (IMG Academy FL) won the men's pole vault with a clearance at 18-1.25, one bar above Isaiah Whittaker (Bloomington Central Catholic IL), who made 17-11.25.

Emily Harbach of Rice won a close women's javelin competition in which the top three separated by less than two feet. Harbach threw 172-10 and Sophia Mazzoni of Auburn was second with 171-11.

Nolan Carey of Penn State won the men's javelin with 217-9. High schooler Jaxon Talley from West Monroe LA finished second with 212-3. Noboby hit the world standard of 68.50m (224-9) on Thursday, although Carey hit it at the Big Ten Championships. 

Quincy Isaac of Michigan won the men's long jump with 25-3.50 and was the only jumper to go beyond the standard. 

D'Anna Cotton of Durham Striders TC (North Carolina) hit a US#1 and hit the World U20 standard in the women's triple jump with 43-1. 

Tyler Warnick of Weber State leads the men's decathlon after the first day with 4,136 points.

Chiora Enyinna-Okeigbo of Major Impact Track Club (Texas) leads the heptathlon with 3,272 points after four events.