EUGENE -- Team USA proved why Friday truly is everyone’s favorite day of the week, as three golds, two silvers and two bronzes put the red, white and blue atop the gold medal tally and ranked first in the overall medal table with 13 on Day Four of the IAAF World Junior Championships at Hayward Field. 
 
Kendall Baisden (Austin, Texas) of Texas ran aggressively and it paid off as she pulled away over the final 50m to take gold in the women’s 400m final in 51.85 with teammate Olivia Baker closing quickly to win bronze in 53.00. Baisden made up the stagger on the two runners to her outside at the 100m mark and settled in, with Cuba’s Gilda Casanova moving up on her inside. Casanova had a slight edge with 100m to go, but Baisden’s superior strength shut down any hopes of an upset as she added individual one-lap gold to the 4x400 gold she won at Barcelona in 2012.
 
Running a completely dominant race, Trentavis Friday (Gastonia, North Carolina) sprinted to gold in the men’s 200m in a wind-aided 20.04, beating the rest of the field by more than two-tenths of a second. Friday shot out of the blocks and gapped the other seven men by the 50m mark, and he was never really challenged as he claimed Team USA’s first gold in the event in 20 years.
 
Kaylin Whitney (Clermont, Florida) stormed through the curve and refused to yield down the stretch on the way to a gold medal performance in the women’s 200m. Whitney, who had a scare with a yellow card from the starters, recomposed herself and exploded out of the blocks, pushing powerfully all the way to finish in a wind-aided 22.82 and win Team USA’s third gold in the event. Jada Martin (Lithonia, Georgia) of LSU nabbed fifth place with her 23.35.
 
Waiting until her sixth and final throw to unleash her best effort of the competition, women's shot put athlete Raven Saunders (Charleston, South Carolina) came through in the clutch to throw 16.63m/54-6.75 and take second place for the first-ever Team USA silver in the event. Saunders had a 16.36m/53-8.25 in round two to climb to third place and ensure she would receive all six throws. She also passed Turkey’s Emel Dereli on the antepenultimate throw of the day.
 
Another silver came in the women’s discus, where Stanford’s Valarie Allman (Longmont, Colorado) opened up with what would prove to be her best throw of the competition at 56.75m/186-2. Allman had two more throws over 56m/183-9.
 
TJ Holmes (St. Petersburg, Florida) of Baylor ran even with Jamaica’s Jaheel Hyde through seven hurdles in the men’s 400m hurdles final, but the Jamaican was too strong over the final three hurdles as Holmes earned bronze in 50.07. Hyde ran a world junior-leading 49.29 for gold, with Bahrain’s Ali Khamis sneaking up for silver in 49.55.
 
The final event of the evening saw Colby Gilbert (Vancouver, Washington) sprint his way to ninth in the closing 20m of the men’s 5,000m final, finishing in 14:09.98 to tie the best placing ever by a Team USA man in the event. Brian Barraza (El Paso, Texas) of the University of Houston set a lifetime best of 14:13.33 in 13th.
 
The women's 4x100m relay began the evening session running events with Team USA leading all times in winning heat one in 44.03, the fastest Junior time in the world this year. Leading off was Teahna Daniels (Gainsville, Florida), followed by Ariana Washington (Long Beach, California), Jada Martin(Lithonia, Georgia) and Ky Westbrook (Chandler, Arizona).
 
The men’s 4x100m relay team, comprised of Jalen Miller (Tunica, Mississippi), Trayvon Bromell (St. Petersburg, Florida), Terry Jernigan (Winter Garden, Florida) and Michael Wells (St. Louis, Missouri), had to settle for second behind Japan in 39.43, .2 behind the winners. That was also the second-fastest time overall out of the three heats.
 
Jade Miller (Temecula, California) of Harvard ran a patient 400m hurdles semifinal, watching eventual winner Shona Richards of Great Britain sprinting to the lead on the back straight. Miller maintained her race plan and made up ground off the final hurdle to come within two-tenths of Rogers, who won in 57.08, clocking 57.28 to take an automatic spot in the final.
 
In the second semifinal of the 400m hurdles, Shamier Little (Chicago, Illinois) of Texas A&M did not disappoint, leading both Americans with her winning time of 57.18, the second-fastest time of the day. Little was conservative through 250 meters before surging ahead and opening up a gap of more than a second over the runner-up.
 
 
TEAM USA MEDALS (13)
 
GOLD (5)
 
Kendal Williams, men's 100m
Mary Cain, women's 3,000m
Kaylin Whitney, women’s 200m
Trentavis Friday, men’s 200m
Kendall Baisden, women’s 400m
 
 
SILVER (4)
 
Trayvon Bromell, men's 100m
Desiree Freier, women's pole vault
Raven Saunders, women’s shot put
Valarie Allman, women’s discus
 
 
BRONZE (4)
 
Kaylin Whitney, women's 100m
Braheme Days, men's shot put
TJ Holmes, men’s 400m hurdles
Olivia Baker, women’s 400m