Williams Breaks School Record in 100
EUGENE, Ore. – Lining up against some of the most decorated sprinters in the United States--and thus, the world--UO freshman Micah Williams made quite the impression with a time of 9.91 to finish fifth in the 100 meters Sunday night at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials at Hayward Field. His time broke the school record of 9.93 set by Cravon Gillespie at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
Williams will next go through team processing as the next step in consideration for the United States' 4x100-meter relay pool.
An eruption of applause went up from the Hayward Field faithful when Williams' next and time appeared on the video board, a result that sent Williams into a celebration of his own.
"I did surprise myself," the Portland, Ore., native said. "I didn't expect it. I went in there confident but I didn't know what I was going to run. That's the fastest I've run, 9.91, and made the USA team as a 19 year old...that's a true accomplishment."
The official Olympic Team heading to Tokyo will be announced at a later date following the Trials.
FOLLOW THE DUCKS
12:15 p.m. – decathlon
Who: Joe Delgado
What: Day 2 – 110m hurdles (14.96), discus (43.92m/144-1), pole vault (4.75m/15-7), javelin (58.69m/192-6), 1500m (4:20.93)
Result: After two days and 10 events, Delgado finished in fifth place with a personal best of 8,161 points. He capped his Trials with a time of 4:20.93 to win the 1,500 meters, earning 805 points toward his total and surpassed his previous best of 7,852 points from 2018. Delgado competed for the Ducks from 2015-17 before transferring to Louisville. He is currently an assistant coach for Navy.
6:19 p.m. – men's 100 meters | semifinals
Who: Cravon Gillespie, Kyree King, Micah Williams
What: Top three in each heat + next two fastest advance to final (7:52 p.m.)
Result: Competing in the first of two semifinal heats, both Gillespie and Williams earned on-time qualifiers to advance to Sunday night's final. Williams finished fourth in the heat in 10.02 with Gillespie right behind him in 10.03, which put them directly on the bubble with the second heat to go. The top three in semifinal no. 2--Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Noah Lyles--all posted sub-10 times but the fourth-place runner in the heat crossed in 10.11 to secure spots for Williams and Gillespie. King (10.18) was sixth in the second heat and did not advance. Dating back to 1992--the first Trials to double as the U.S. Championships--no UO men had advanced to the 100-meter final at the meet.
7:52 p.m. – men's 100 meters | final
Who: Cravon Gillespie, Micah Williams
Results: Williams' time of 9.91 equals the eighth-fastest performer on the all-dates, all-time collegiate list and eclipses his previous lifetime best of 10.00 from the 2021 NCAA West Preliminary in College Station, Texas. Gillespie, now the former school-record holder, finished in sixth place with a time of 10.00 running out of lane one. Gillespie will also go through team processing for the Olympics but his Trials are not over as he's also entered in the 200 meters which begin Friday.
Trayvon Bromell won the 100 meters in 9.80 with Ronnie Baker (9.85) and Fred Kerley (9.86) in second and third, respectively. Kenny Bednarek was fourth in 9.89 just ahead of Williams. Places two through five all recorded lifetime bests in the race.
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