Meyer, Wynne advance to finals at Olympic Trials

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Michaela Meyer and former NCAA champion Henry Wynne both advanced to their event finals during Friday’s competition at the USA Track & Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.

Running in the second semifinal race of the 800 meters, Meyer was in third place at the mid-point of the race but dropped back to fifth position with 200 meters to go. The top three finishers in each of the two heats automatically advanced to the finals while the finishers with the next two best times earned the remaining spots.

Holding onto fifth place, Meyer was running just ahead of Juliette Whittaker after 700 meters. She used a strong finishing kick, to hold off Whittaker and make up a five-meter deficit during the final 20 meters of the race to overtake Nia Akins at the tape and place fourth.

Meyer’s strong finish allowed her to qualify on time (2:01.06) slightly ahead of Akins (2:01.09) who grabbed the final spot into Sunday’s finals. That race is set to start at 7:52 p.m. ET.

Wynne, the 2016 NCAA indoor mile winner and 2016 ACC 1500-meter champion, advanced in the men’s 1500-meter race.

He avoided disaster at the end of his first lap when he collied with another runner and stumbled but quickly regained his position. He was in eighth place to start the bell lap and then took to the outside to move up to fifth position for with 200 meters left.

Down the home stretch, Wynne overtook one more runner to finish fourth with a time of 3:43.77 to earn an automatic spot into Sunday’s finals. That race is scheduled to start at 8:10 p.m. ET.

Virginia volunteer throws coach Jordan Roach also competed Friday in the discus finals. He placed eighth with a best throw of 59.25 meters (194’ 4”).

On Saturday, Virginia graduate Bridget Guy will compete in the pole vault finals that gets underway at 8:40 p.m. ET. She stood in seventh place after the opening three heights of the qualifying round. Guy has met the Olympic standard and will need a top-three finish to automatically advance to Summer Games in Tokyo.