2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Track & Field

Top 5, Day 1 of Olympic Trials

Jun 23, 2012 by Taylor Dutch

For the Olympic Trials recaps, we are going to list the top five performances of the meet starting with the most impressive result of the day.

Here are our picks for top 5 performances of Day 1:

1. The most impressive performance of the day would have to be Ashton Eaton breaking the decathlon world record in the 100 meters and the long jump in the very first day of competition. He kicked off the meet in the 100 meters by running a blazing 10.21, beating the previous decathlon world record of 10.22 held by Chris Huffins. That wasn't enough for Eaton, who came back and broke the long jump decathlon world record of 8.22 held by Eric Nool by jumping a distance of 8.23. Eaton will return tomorrow ready to go after competing in the first 5 events of the decathlon today.

Men's Decathlon	100 Meter Dash

Place	Athlete Name	Affiliation	Time	Wind	Points	ReacTime	Heat(Pl)
1	Ashton Eaton	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	10.21	+0.4	1044	0.173	3 (1)
2	Bryan Clay	Asics	10.45	+0.4	987	0.155	3 (2)
3	Trey Hardee	Nike	10.50	+0.4	975	0.144	3 (3)
4	Isaac Murphy	Texas	10.77	+0.4	912	0.195	3 (4)
5	Miller Moss	Unattached	10.85	+0.4	894	0.191	3 (5)
6	Curtis Beach	Duke	10.88	+0.1	888	0.180	2 (1)

Men's Decathlon	Long Jump

Place	Athlete Name	Affiliation	Mark		Wind	Points	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Rnd 3
1	Ashton Eaton	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	8.23m	27-0	-0.0	1120	8.23m w: -0.0 (1) 27-0	PASS	PASS
2	Gray Horn	Florida	7.60m	24-11 ¼	-0.0	960	7.60m w: -0.0 (2) 24-11 ¼	FOUL	7.37m w: -0.0 (2) 24-2 ¼
3	Trey Hardee	Nike	7.55m	24-9 ¼	-0.0	947	FOUL	7.55m w: -0.0 (3) 24-9 ¼	7.38m w: -0.0 (3) 24-2 ¾
4	Kevin Lazas	Arkansas	7.44m	24-5	-0.0	920	7.16m w: -0.0 (7) 23-6	7.44m w: -0.0 (4) 24-5	7.21m w: -0.0 (4) 23-8
5	Curtis Beach	Duke	7.42m	24-4 ¼	-0.0	915	7.42m w: -0.0 (3) 24-4 ¼	7.08m w: -0.0 (5) 23-2 ¾	FOUL
6	Bryan Clay	Asics	7.40m	24-3 ½	-0.0	910	7.40m w: -0.0 (4) 24-3 ½	7.02m w: -0.0 (6) 23-0 ½	FOUL

2. The next mind-blowing performance of the day was by far Natasha Rogers running like a maniac in the women's 10k. The junior from Texas A&M ran a ridiculous race, hanging on with legends of American female distance running, Amy Hastings, Shalane Flanagan, Lisa Uhl, and Alisha Williams for the entire race. Rogers kicked it into high gear in the last 400 meters, giving Hastings and Flanagan a run for their money with a 65 last lap. She came through in an impressive 2nd place, edging out American record holder Flanagan. Rogers has been having the perfect end to her outdoor track season, winning the NCAA Championship in the 10k two weeks ago and finishing 2nd tonight in front of a roaring crowd. Unfortunately, Rogers' performance will not punch her ticket to London because she did not run the Olympic A standard time of 31:45.

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Place	Athlete Name	Affiliation	Time
1	Amy Hastings	Brooks	31:58.36
2	Natosha Rogers	Texas A&M	31:59.21
3	Shalane Flanagan	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	31:59.69
4	Lisa Uhl	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	32:03.46
5	Alisha Williams	Boulder Running Company/adidas	32:08.51
6	Tara Erdmann	Unattached	32:09.15
7	Janet Cherobon-Bawcom	Nike	32:17.06
8	Stephanie Rothstein	adidas/McMillan Elite	32:24.25
9	Deborah Maier	Unattached	32:25.82
10	Kellyn Johnson	adidas/McMillan Elite	32:30.40
11	Alissa McKaig	ZAP Fitness Reebok	32:31.66
12	Meaghan Nelson	Iowa State	32:32.45
13	Rebecca Donaghue	New Balance	32:37.39
14	Adriana Nelson	Unattached	32:38.95
15	Rachel Ward	Ragged Mountain Racing	32:39.53
16	Liz Costello	Unattached	32:53.31
17	Alvina Begay	Nike	32:58.63
18	Katie McGregor	Reebok	33:11.92
19	Addie Bracy	Unattached	33:14.12
20	Wendy Thomas	Boulder Running Company/adidas	33:17.40
21	Katie DiCamillo	New Balance Boston	33:26.72
22	Katie Matthews	Boston University	33:45.22
DNF	Sarah Porter	ZAP Fitness Reebok
DNS	Allison Kieffer	Unattached

3. Dathan Ritzenhein placing 3rd in the men's 10k was the feel good performance of the night. He went into the race not having hit the Olympic A standard time of 27:45 and was able to execute the race perfectly, working with his teammate Galen Rupp to hit the pace earning a spot to London. The two switched off leads for the majority of the race and were followed by Matt Tegenkamp to form the front pack of three for the last 2 miles. Rupp broke away with three laps to go but Tegenkamp and Ritz were able to power through the final minutes for second and third place, hitting Olympic A standard times of 27:33 and 27:36.

Place	Athlete Name	Affiliation	Time
1	Galen Rupp	Nike	27:25.33	M
2	Matt Tegenkamp	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	27:33.94
3	Dathan Ritzenhein	Nike	27:36.09
4	Chris Derrick	Stanford	27:40.23
5	Aaron Braun	adidas/McMillan Elite	27:41.54
6	Ryan Vail	Brooks	27:52.53
7	Brent Vaughn	Nike	27:55.44
8	Luke Puskedra	Oregon	27:56.62
9	Bobby Mack III	Unattached	27:58.07
10	Robert Curtis	Reebok	27:58.48
11	Hassan Mead	Minnesota	27:59.04
12	Benjamin True	Saucony	28:08.17
13	Jacob Riley	Hansons-Brooks Distance Projec	28:08.36
14	Tim Nelson	Nike / Oregon TC Elite	28:15.11
15	Joseph Chirlee	U.S. Army	28:17.84
16	Jeff Schirmer	ASTF	28:35.18
17	Christopher Landry	Unattached	28:35.46
18	Girma Mecheso	Oklahoma State	28:38.73
19	Josh Simpson	AST	28:48.32
20	David Jankowski	ZAP Fitness Reebok	29:00.67
21	James Strang	Unattached	29:09.77
22	Mikhail Sayenko	Brooks / Club Northwest	29:18.57
23	Juan Carlos Trujillo	adidas	29:36.50
DNF	Scott Bauhs	Unattached

4. Amy Hastings also had an inspiring performance winning the women's 10k. The 15th place finisher in the 5k at Worlds last year made a statement by leading the entire second half of the race and finishing with an insane last lap of 65 seconds to bring home the victory in a time of 31:58.

5. Last but not least, we cannot forget Matt Tegenkamp's 2nd place finish in the men's 10k. He stayed in perfect position for the entire race, sitting behind the leaders Rupp and Ritz. Tegenkamp made a smart move with two miles to go, putting himself in the leading top three to punch his ticket to London with a time of 27:33.