EUGENE, Ore. — Ben True of North Yarmouth failed to make the Olympic team after he finished 11th in the men’s 10,000 meters at the U.S. track and field Olympic trials Friday night.
True finished in 29 minutes, 4.21 seconds. He will take another shot at earning an Olympic berth when he competes in the 5,000. The qualifying round is Monday, with the finals on July 9.
Riley Masters of Bangor will also compete in the 5,000.
Galen Rupp cruised to the win in the 10,000, pulling away from second-place finisher Shadrack Kipchirchir in the final 200 meters. Rupp finished in 27:55.04 and Kipchirchir in 28:01.52.
Leonard Korir earned the final spot on the U.S. team, finishing third in 28:16.97.
Also Friday, Lewiston High graduate Isaiah Harris qualified for the semifinals in the men’s 800 by winning the third heat. Harris, who recently completed his freshman season at Penn State, finished in 1:47.6 and will race in the semifinals Saturday. The top three finishers in each heat and the next four fastest times advanced to the semifinals. The finals will take place Monday.
In the women’s 800, Carsyn Koch of Washburn failed to advance. Koch, who recently completed her sophomore year at Cedarville (Ohio) University, finished fifth in the third heat with a time of 2:05.57.
Former Lake Region High star Kate Hall advanced to the finals in the long jump with a jump of 21 feet, 71/2 inches. Hall finished eighth in qualifying. The top 12 jumpers advance to the finals, which will take place Saturday.
In other action Friday, Allyson Felix blocked out the pain in her ankle and cruised on auto-pilot in the 400-meter qualifying round to keep her chance at a 200-400 double alive, while Sanya Richards-Ross bid a tearful adieu to the fans, after pulling up 250 meters into her lap around the track – her hamstring too tight to carry on.
“I’ve had an amazing career,” Richards-Ross said. “To have my last race be here, at Hayward Field, in front of these fans, it’s incredible.”
In addition to her four Olympic gold medals, including the individual title at the London Games, Richards-Ross holds the stadium record in Eugene – better known as Track Town USA. It was here, five weeks ago at the Prefontaine Classic, that fans got their first glimpse of what might be coming. Richards-Ross finished seventh that day.
In this one, her first 15 steps out of the blocks were smooth, but she went from a sprint to a trot. By the time she hit the first curve on the backstretch, she was slowing. And then she pulled up completely.
“Let’s be honest, I hurt my hamstring real bad,” she said. “I worked with a great doctor just to get out on the track today.”
After she pulled up, she walked to the finish line. Fans rose from their seats and Richards-Ross blew kisses.
She earned as many of those fans through her failures as her successes – her long battle with illness and injuries, her third-place finish in Beijing that left her weeping underneath the stands, then, finally, the gold medal in London.
“Most fans have seen my heart through my running,” Richards-Ross said. “I don’t win every time I step on the track. I don’t deserve the ovation because I’m always a champion. But I think they see my heart, my determination, my desire to be a good person.”
Now, though, they’ll be watching Felix and others finish up the 400. Felix finished second in her heat in 51.96 seconds, then headed straight to the trainer’s room for treatment.
She hurt the ankle in the spring and has had a rough time coming back – forced to do most of her running the wrong way around the track so as not to put the ankle at more risk.
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