Cards Complete Day One at US Olympic Team Trials
June 28, 2008 | Men's Track and Field
June 28, 2008
EUGENE, Ore. - University of Louisville athletes Jere' Summers and Tone Belt completed the first day of competition at the 2008 US Olympic Team Trials on Friday night at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Summers, a native of Oakland, Calif., who completed her sophomore season less than two weeks ago at the NCAA Championships, finished 14th in the qualifying round of the women's discus with a throw of 169 feet, 11 inches (51.80m). The top 12 throwers in Friday's qualifying round advanced to Sunday's women's discus final.
Belt, from Berkeley Springs, W.Va., had a leap of 24-07.00 (7.49m) to finish 20th in the qualifying round of the men's long jump, while the top 12 finishers advanced to Sunday's men's long jump final. Belt competed for just the second time in the last 12 months after missing the 2008 collegiate season while recovering from a torn ACL in his left knee suffered last June at the USA Outdoor Championships.
In Nassau, Bahamas, Louisville's Rudon Bastian finished second in the men's long jump at the Bahamas Olympic Trials with a leap of 25-04.00 (7.72m). In order to represent his native country at the upcoming Beijing Olympics, Bastian will need to achieve the Olympic "B" Standard of 8.05m and he'll have one final opportunity to achieve that in the coming days. His career best mark in a long jump competition is 7.91m (25-11.50) at the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional last month.
The 2008 US Olympic Team Trials will continue for the Cards on Friday, July 4 as Andre Black competes in the qualifying round of the men's triple jump at 10:10 p.m. ET. On the international side, Louisville's Tarah McKay will compete in the qualifying round of the women's 1,500m at the Canada Olympic Trials on July 4 in Windsor, Ont.
Following the Olympic qualifying events over the next two weeks, Louisville throwers D'Ana McCarty and Chinwe Okoro will represent Team USA at the IAAF World Junior Championships on July 8-13 in Poland. McCarty will compete in the women's hammer, while Okoro will compete in the women's shot put.
