Simone Facey claims World Champs gold as member of Jamaica 4x100 relay
Aug 22, 2009 | Track and Field
Aug. 22, 2009
BERLIN, GERMANY - With five athletes from the Aggie program in action on the eighth day at the IAAF World Championships on Saturday experiences ranged from a relay gold medal for Simone Facey to an unfortunate injury for Muna Lee during relay duty in the prelims of the 4 x 100.
Three Texas A&M graduates were in action at Olympic Stadium. In addition to the gold for Facey and the Jamaican sprint relay team, Tyrone Edgar was part of the bronze-medal effort from Great Britain in the men's 4 x 100 final. Australian Fabrice Lapierre just missed claiming a medal in the long jump as he placed fourth.
Jessica Beard is in line to be part of a medal producing 4 x 400 relay as she ran third leg for the United States during the prelims. The final will be contested on Sunday.
Lee, set to run the third leg for the American 4x1 unit in the prelims, injured her left hamstring after Alexandria Anderson had trouble getting the baton in her hand.
Once the baton was in her grip, Lee's right foot hit the back of her left knee. An awkward step with her left leg had Lee grimacing in pain as she hopped on one foot to the outside lane of the track and collapsed.
Facey ran the leading leg for Jamaica in the prelims and final and earned a World Championship gold medal as the crew of Shelly-Ann Fraser, Aleen Bailey and Kerron Stewart clocked a winning time of 42.06 in the final after a 41.88 prelim mark.
Finishing behind Jamaica were the Bahamas in 42.29 with Germany taking bronze in 42.87 ahead of Russia's 43.00.
In 2007 Facey was a member of the Jamaica relay squad that claimed World Championship silver in Osaka, Japan. While at Texas A&M Facey was a member of two NCAA championship teams in the 4 x 100 relay.
The men's 4 x 100 relay was the final event on the track and Edgar ran second leg for the British squad that included Simeon Williamson, Marlon Devonish and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey. The time of 38.02 for Great Britain was a season best and placed third for bronze behind a championship record of 37.31 for Jamaica and a 37.62 national record for Trinidad & Tobago.
Lapierre, competing for Australia, opened his long jump final with a leap of 26-11.25 (8.21) as the second jumper in a field of 12. A steady series would follow for Lapierre with marks of 25-6 (7.77) and 26-10.5 (8.19) in the second and third rounds.
With the field trimmed to eight jumpers and the jumping order reshuffled for the final three rounds, Lapierre became the fifth jumper as he was set in fourth place.
Following a foul in round four, Lapierre matched his first round effort with another 26-11.25 in the fifth stanza. He completed the day with a 26-11 (8.20) to produce a fourth-place finish.
After the qualifying round on Thursday Lapierre predicted what he thought it would take to medal in the final: "I think 26-11 (8.20) is not going to get a medal. I think you are going to have to jump over 27-2.75 (8.30)."
American Dwight Phillips won the event with a 28-0.25 (8.54) while South African Godfrey Mokoena placed second with a 27-9.5 (8.47). Fellow Australian Mitchell Watt secured bronze with a 27-5.5 (8.37).
Beard ran third leg on the American 4 x 400 unit that included Debbie Dunn, Natasha Hastings and Sanya Richards. Beard split 51.55 as she extended the lead as the U.S. won the heat in a comfortable 3:29.31.
"I was really trying to open up the gap that I was given, so Sanya could have it easy," Beard noted. "She was able to run without expending too much energy. I'm really glad that the coaching staff trusted me to get out there, especially since I'm the youngest member of the team."
In Sunday's final the Americans will start from lane 5 with Russia in lane 4 and the Jamaicans in lane 6.
"I'm happy that my teammates ran as well as they did Debbie, Natasha and Jessica made it easy on me," Richards said. "We're going to have a tough task tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure I had fresh legs for the finals."
Players Mentioned
