Meyer, Guy, Wynne advance at Olympic Trials

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia graduate student Michaela Meyer was joined by a pair of former Cavaliers – Bridget Guy and Henry Wynne – in advancing at the USA Track & Field Olympic Trials following Thursday’s competition held in Eugene, Ore.

Meyer placed third in her heat of the 800 meters and advanced to Friday’s semifinals with a time of 2:00.75. She did not earn one of her heat’s two automatic qualifying spots to the next round but posted the best performance of the six runners who advanced based on time. Friday’s 800-meter semifinal is set to start at 6:02 p.m. ET with the finals slated for Sunday. Meyer has yet to meet the Olympic standard time of 1:59.50.

In the pole vault, Guy advanced to Saturday’s finals by clearing the opening three heights of 4.30 meters (14’ 1.25”), 4.40 meters (14’ 5.25”) and 4.50 meters (14’ 9”). She had one miss on the 4.50-meter mark to end the qualifying round in seventh place. Guy entered the competition having already met the Olympic standard for the event. The pole vault finals are slated for Saturday at 8:40 p.m. ET.

Wynne, who won the NCAA indoor mile in 2016 while competing for UVA, advanced to the semifinals of the 1500 meters. Wynne used a strong final 200 meters to run 3.39.10 and advance out of his heat as the third-place finisher. The semifinals will take place Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET. Like Guy, Wynne previously met the Olympic standard for his race.

UVA freshman Jada Seaman (Pikesville, Md.) just missed on her chance to advance to the finals in the long jump. After fouling on her first attempt, she jumped 6.24 meters (20’ 5.75”) on her second attempt. That earned her a 13th-place finish. The top 12 during the qualifying round advanced to the event finals.

Earlier in the week, UVA graduate Jordan Lavender placed 25th (53.06) in the first round of the 400 meters and Derek Johnson was 15th (8:32.97) in the first round of the 3000-meter steeplechase. Neither runner advanced to the next round.