DES MOINES, Iowa -- Virginia Tech’s Ryan Hagen ran a solid race Friday afternoon and qualified for the Saturday final in 1500m at the USA Junior Track & Field Championships. David Wilson finished sixth in the triple jump competition in the only other action involving Tech athletes.
Hagen (Fr., Sterling, Va.) finished second in Heat 1 of the 1500m with a time of 3:57.91 and will participate in the final which is slated for Saturday at 6:40 p.m. (ET). He had the fourth fastest time in the two heats with Peter Callahan (Princeton) posting the top time of 3:57.74. The Tech freshman posted a personal best 3:53.69 in winning his 1500m section at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg, Va. earlier this season. The world junior qualifying standard in the event is 3:48.00.
Wilson (Fr., Danville, Va.), a NCAA East Regional qualifier and winner of both the Miami Invitational and Liberty Twilight triple jump events this season, finished sixth in the triple jump competition with his best of six leaps at 49-09. Omar Craddock (Florida) won the event with a 54-04 effort.
In Thursday action, Jared Berman (Fr., Fairfax, Va.) put together one of the best performances of his young career to finish second in the 3000m steeplechase. Berman completed the event in 9:04.76 which easily was under the world qualifying standard of 9:10.00. He is now qualified to compete in the IAAF World Junior Championships, July 19-25, in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
The competition, for ages 19 and under, is being held at Drake Stadium on the Drake University campus. The junior competition is taking place in conjunction with the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Live video can be seen at: http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAJuniorOutdoorTFChampionships/video.asp
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