2015 World Youth Trials
Meet Page & Coverage Central
Previews: Girls Sprints/Hurdles - Boys Sprints/Hurdles - Girls Distance - Boys Distance - Girls Field Events - Boys Field Events
Josephus Lyles represented the United States last summer running a leg on the gold medal 4x400 meter relay at the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships. This summer, he would like to add a World Youth gold individual title to his credentials in the 400. First step to do that will be qualifying through the World Youth Trials this Tuesday and Wednesday in Lisle, Illinois. The meet's top two finishers if they meet the IAAF World Youth qualifying standard, will move onto the 2015 IAAF World Youth Championships to be held July 15th through 19th in Cali, Columbia.
After watching his older brother Noah just this past weekend in Oregon win the US Junior Nationals 100 and 200 meter dash titles, the two-time New Balance Nationals Outdoor 400 meter champ Josephus Lyles might be trying to become a double champion this weekend as well. Lyles will not only be a favorite and top seed in the 400 after clocking a 45.99 PR two weekends ago at New Balance Nationals, but is also entered in the 200 meter dash. Known primarily as a quarter miler, Lyles nearly broke 21 seconds in the 200 at the Virginia 6A State Meet in a runner-up US #7 21.02 finish to his brother Noah three weeks ago.
The T.C. Williams (VA) junior is ranked #3 among World Youths in the 400 and will be heavily favored in the U.S. qualifier race which the next fastest in the field is a group of athletes who have run in the mid to high 47 second range this season including Ohio state champion Tyler Johnson, Maryland state champion Maxwell Willis, and Florida state champion Dominic Smith. Howard Fields, a sophomore from Manvel High School in Texas, finished 6th in his state meet, but ran a 47.34 PR in the same race. Fields has the next fastest time this season after Lyles with his US #40 ranking to show the gap that exists between the US #4 ranked Lyles and the rest of the field.
There is no such large gap between Lyles and the 200 meter dash field as he actually could be the chaser with Texas state champion and Fort Bend Marshall sophomore Shamon Ehiemua as the fastest entrant from his US #5 20.89 wind legal clocking at the UIL State Championships in May. Also cannot count out for the win and definitely not a top two World Youth bound finish from either Illinois state champ Josh Eiker or Maryland state champ Maxwell Willis.
Wills ran a very swift wind-aided 200 meter time of 20.56 at the Great Southwest Classic earlier in June in a runner-up finish to last year's World Junior medalist Michael O'Hara from Jamaica. Willis was also an All-American in both the 100 and 200 two weekends ago at New Balance Nationals including a third place finish in the 200 behind only the likes of Noah Lyles and Ryan Clark.
The sophomore Ehiemua might be a little race rusty after last competing only once since the Texas State Meet on May 16th, but then again he may even be further along and even faster than his 20.89 clocking over six weeks ago. The Fort Bend Marshall sprinter from the Houston area is the only U.S. athlete in the 200 meter dash currently ranked among the World Youth top 10 list at #6.
In the World Youth Trials 100 meter dash, Willis along with Diab Davis from California are the fastest entrants with both having clocked wind legal 10.53's this season. Davis, who finished third earlier in the spring at the Arcadia Invite 100, wasn't able to qualify for the competitive California state meet, but comes to Chicago with hopes of making the World Youth team. Willis, the junior from Bowie High School, swept the Maryland 4A state titles this spring in the sprints and also ran a wind-aided 10.40 clocking at the Great Southwest Classic.
Meanwhile, Josh Eiker will try to win the World Youth Trials title in front of the homestate crowd. Eiker, a junior at Galesburg High School, won the Illinois 2A state titles this spring in the 100 and 200 and finished third in the Brooks PR 100 two weeks ago.
In the hurdles, Damion Thomas from Florida in the 110 high hurdles and Norman Grimes from Texas in the 400 intermediate hurdles will the favorites and top seeds in both races.
Thomas set the 15 year old national record in the 110 hurdles earlier in the spring with a 13.64 win at the Florida Relays from the Northeast (Orland Park, FL) sophomore. He bested that time in winning the Brooks PR Invitational with a wind-aided 13.62 clocking.
Grimes will also be in the 110 meter hurdles with Thomas along with fellow Texan hurdler Isaiah Lucas and the California state runner-up Joseph Anderson as the US #4 ranked Thomas' top challengers. Grimes is US #9 ranked in the 110 meter hurdles with a 13.71 wind legal best, while Anderson (US #13 13.77) and Lucas (US #14 13.78) both rank among the top 15 fastest high school hurdlers in the nation. Grimes and Lucas went 1-2 in the 110 meter hurdles at the Great Southwest Classic last month, while Anderson is looking to bounce back from his 7th place finish at Brooks PR after clipping hurdles.
Only two of the four sub 14 second hurdlers will make the U.S. team for World Youth, but any of the four could go to Columbia and compete for a top three medal.
In the 400 meter hurdles, Grimes is coming off three consecutive strong 400 meter hurdles races all under 51 seconds over the last 3 weeks between the Caribbean Scholastic Invite (1st, 50.80), New Balance Nationals (3rd, 50.97), and USATF Junior Nationals (2nd, 50.59). He had never run a 400 meter hurdles until 3 weeks ago in Cuba. He has made already one U.S. team this summer in the Pan Am Junior Games team set for early August in Canada and is looking to qualify for a second national team in the World Youth squad over the next two days.
Grimes, the US leader in the 300 meter hurdles (36.10), was a Texas state champion in the event and may be joined in Columbia by another Texas state champ with UIL 6A 300 hurdles winner Isaiah Lucas from Cypress Falls. In his 400 meter hurdles debut in a summer track last month, Lucas posted a US #16 time of 53.29.
Only Grimes and East Orange Campus (NJ) sophomore Cory Poole have run faster in the 400 meter hurdles than Lucas among the World Youth Trials entrants. Poole was a New Jersey Group champion in the 110 and 400 meter hurdles, while finishing 10th at New Balance Nationals in the 400 meter hurdles two weeks ago.