Aug. 15, 2009
BERLIN, GERMANY - Texas A&M had solid results from a trio of Aggies competing in qualifying rounds during the opening day of the 12th IAAF World Championships in track and field at the 1936 Olympic Stadium.
In the evening session Tyrone Edgar and Gerald Phiri raced in the same heat and both advanced to Sunday's 100-meter semi-final. Jessica Beard achieved the same level in the women's 400 meters during her race in the morning session.
Edgar, an A&M grad running for Great Britain, placed second in the second heat of five during the quarterfinals with a time of 10.12 seconds behind a 10.01 set by U.S. champion Michael Rodgers.
A&M sophomore Phiri, contesting the 100 meters for Zambia, placed fourth in the same quarterfinal heat as Edgar. With the top three finishers in each heat automatically advancing, a time of 10.16 by Phiri snared the one and only time qualifier for the semifinal. His position knocked out a 10.19 by Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles, who placed fourth in the Beijing final last summer.
Favorites moving onto the 100-meter semifinal were defending world champion Tyson Gay (9.98) along with two other Americans in Darvis Patton (10.05) and Monzavous Edwards (10.15). The group also includes Jamaica's trio of Asafa Powell (9.95), Usain Bolt (10.03) and Michael Frater (10.09), as well as Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago (10.08) and Antigua's Daniel Bailey (10.02).
In the 400 meters A&M sophomore Beard clocked a time of 51.72 from lane 7 for second place to a 51.55 posted by Jamaica's Novlene Williams-Mills, the sister of Aggie grad and 2006 NCAA 400 champion Clora Williams.
Beard, at 20-years-old the youngest member of the U.S. women's team, and Williams-Mills are also paired in the same semifinal on Sunday. Beard will be in lane 3 with Wiliams-Mills in lane 5 in the first of three heats. The top two finishers plus the next two fastest times will advance to the final.
During the morning session, in the first round of the 100, Phiri placed second in a time of 10.30 seconds behind Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who ran 10.20 in the adjacent lane to Phiri. In the next heat of the 100, Edgar produced a runner-up effort of 10.42 to join Phiri in the next round.
Joining the action on Sunday will be A&M sophomore triple jumper Julian Reid, who competes for Jamaica, as well as Aggie volunteer assistant Muna Lee in the women's 100.
Lee will run in the last of nine heats in the opening round of the 100 along with another former LSU sprinter in Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad & Tobago.
Reid, meanwhile, is the 19th jumper among a field of 23 in group A of the triple jump. Another 23 jumpers make up group B. The field will be trimmed to the 12 jumpers who advance to the final. Reaching a distance of 56-2 automatically qualifies a jumper to the final. Reid enters the competition with a career best of 55-8.5.