Muna Lee advances to women's 100 semifinal at World Champs
Aug 16, 2009 | Track and Field
Aug. 16, 2009
BERLIN, GERMANY - Muna Lee, a volunteer assistant coach at Texas A&M, became the fourth sprinter affiliated with the Aggie program to reach the semifinal stage of her event during the second day of action at the IAAF World Championships.
Lee recorded a time of 11.13 to place third in her 100-meter quarterfinal heat. Earlier in the day she posted an 11.44 for second place in her opening round heat. She will occupy lane 8 in the second semifinal on Monday, where the top four in each heat advance to the final later that evening.
Also running in the same semifinal heat with Lee is Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, the defending world champion, and U.S. champion Carmelita Jeter.
On an evening when the world record and American record were each broken in a scintillating men's 100-meter final, Aggie sprinters Gerald Phiri and Tyrone Edgar each contested the semifinal, but were unable to make the final.
The 100 final produced an amazing 9.58-second world record for current holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica, who held the previous mark of 9.69 set a year ago in Beijing, while American Tyson Gay lowered his national record to 9.71 for silver.
Edgar, running in lane 7, lined up next to Bolt, who was in lane 6, in the first of two semifinal heats. After Bolt and the field was charged with a false start on the first attempt, Edgar was disqualified for his false start on the second attempt to get the race started. Bolt went on to win the semifinal in 9.89.
In semifinal heat two Phiri had a strong start from his lane 1 position and challenged the leaders early. As the field began to separate in the last quarter of the race Phiri placed seventh with a clocking of 10.19 seconds.
Gay won the semifinal heat in 9.93 with Jamaica's Asafa Powell (9.95) second and Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago in third (9.98) as the top four from each race advanced to the final.
"I had a good first day, and I was very excited to be in a position to fight for a place in a World Championship final," Phiri noted. "My body is tired from the long season, but when it's time to go, it's time to go. I've been working very hard for this moment.
"It was weird racing in the lane next to Usain in the first round, his stride is very long. Above all, it's been a great experience."
Running in the first of three semifinal heats for the 400, Jessica Beard placed fifth with a time of 51.20. Only the top two finishers in each heat, plus the fastest two times moved onto Tuesday's final. Novlene Williams-Mills of Jamaica won the heat in 49.88.
Five of the eight times reaching the 400 final were sub 50 seconds while the last of the two time qualifiers was 50.30 seconds. Beard, who holds a personal best of 50.56, was 13th overall among the field of 24 runners in the semifinal.
In triple jump qualifying Aggie Julian Reid recorded a best of 54-1.25 (16.49) to place 14th in group A. With just three rounds of competition to trim the field of 46 to 12 finalist, Reid opened with a 53-10.25 (16.41) effort.
After his improvement in the second round Reid needed a distance in the 55-8 range to be among the top 12 overall jumpers, but only managed a 53-0.25 (16.16).
There is no morning session on Monday at the Olympic Stadium. In addition to Lee contesting the 100 semifinal, Phiri will run in the first round of the 200 meters along with another A&M volunteer assistant in Wallace Spearmon. Incoming Aggie junior Tabarie Henry will compete in the 400 for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Players Mentioned
