Day 9: Saturday, July 9
Noah Lyles Breaks National High School Record
Justin Gatlin won the 200--out of lane eight!--in the second-fastest time in the world this year. He beat world leader LaShawn Merritt, who won the 400 earlier at these Trials, and Ameer Webb.
But that was secondary to the race behind them. Noah Lyles, hard-closing in fourth place, finally got a high school outdoor national record. The 18-year-old from TC Williams High in Virginia ran 20.09 for fourth place, breaking a 31-year-old national HS record and running one of the best American and world junior performances ever.
Courtesy of NBCOlympics (http://liveextra.nbcsports.com ) and USOC
Lyles will probably not get to compete at the Olympics. After the race, 400m champion Merritt said that he'd likely do the 200/400 double at the Olympics.
Michael Norman was the other recent high school graduate who stole headlines this week as a finalist in the 200m. The USC commit placed fifth overall in 20.14, which ties for the fourth-fastest prep performance of all-time.
High School Pros Kaylin Whitney, Candace Hill Do Not Advance
High school professionals Kaylin Whitney and Candace Hill both competed in Heat 1 of the women's 200m semi-finals. Whitney placed fourth in 23.03 while Hill placed fifth in 23.05. Neither will advance to the final tomorrow, as the slowest time qualifier was Jeneba Tarmoh of Nike in 22.98.
Dennis Young contributed to this report.