Both Brady Gehret and Jeremy Wariner made it into the finals tonight at the US Olympic Trials. Jordan Boase probably would have made it three, but he didn't run the semis for some reason.
Anyway, what can you say about Gehret? We've been following him since high school, and the kid (really still a kid) is just amazing. He's been running low 45's consistently now, and is officially one of the eight best 400 guys in the country at the age of 20. As for Wariner, he looked strong yesterday, but nearly lost his spot by staring at the television screen to check his position and thinking it was safe to jog in the last ten meters.
As for the finals, barring injury or illness, LaShawn Merritt and Tony McQuay have the top two spots absolutely locked up. The other six runners are pretty much dead even. There's no one whom I would regard as better than Gehret or Wariner, so either one could get in, but it all depends on who has the best race that day. I'd wager that one of the two slips in.
In other events, the 800s have been interesting. Lots of good runners going through, but a few disappointing eliminations. On the women's side, poor Amy Weissenbach, was feeling great and about to kick when two runners fell in front of her forcing her to a dead stop. That brought an end to her amazing high school career (in the heats). In the semi-finals, Laura Roesler came oh, so close, finishing fourth. Both of those two have great futures ahead. Anyway, there are plenty of great runners in the finals--all of them professionals (Laura was the last and best collegian eliminated).
On the men's side, the only disappointing elimination was Cas Loxsom, who has had terrible problems this year. I have no idea what's gone wrong with him. In one interview, he mentioned having low iron. The finals will be stocked with great runners to pull for, including Nick Symmonds, Elijah Greer, Ryan Martin, Tyler Mulder, and Mark Wiezcorek.
The 400 finals are on NBC tonight. The 800 finals are Monday night.
auf gehts hr reus ..ab ins gefecht!!!!!
