Tyson Gay blasts 200m semi in 19.93 - NCAA second day

Tyson Gay of the University of Arkansas, Tianna Madison of the University of Tennessee, and a bunch of men's 4x400 relay gave a hotfoot to the NCAA hampionships on the second of four days – Thursday 9 June.

Gay hurtled through the turn in his semi-final of the 200 metres and kept most of his three metre lead until he crossed the finish line in a PB 19.93, two metres up on Xavier Carter of Louisiana State, who ran 20.14. The other semi was won by Walter Dix of Florida State in 20.13, beating defending champion Wallace Spearmon of Arkansas (20.31), who appeared to grab his right hamstring as he crossed the line.

The ages are relevant: Gay is 22, Spearmon is 20, Carter and Dix 19.

Gay has a special motivation for burning the 200. He was the 2004 NCAA champion in the 100, and of course was hoping to repeat in the 100m here. But two weeks ago in the NCAA regionals, he false started in the 100 and thanks to the constantly changing and sometimes mysterious NCAA rules, that was enough to keep him out of the 100 here. The moral would seem to be (at least so far): don't get Tyson mad.

Madison on the rise

Tianna Madison, another 19-year-old, continued her rapid rise in the Long Jump, A year ago she was eighth in Olympic Trials, but after winning here with 6.66m she looks as if she could finish in the top three at the USATF meet two weeks hence. And close behind her was Marshavet Hooker of Texas, 20, who jumped 6.60. Hooker will be a slight favorite for Friday's 100m final.

The men's Long Jump produced a surprise winner in Fabrice Lapierre (AUS) of Texas A&M, who moved from fourth to first with a sixth-round jump of 8.15. Like most of Lapierre's best jumps, this one was windy (+2.8). He said afterwards, “I've had a lot of big jumps before, but I've always fouled them. I couldn't believe it, when I landed, that I didn't foul this one.”

The men's 4x400m is always fast and close at the NCAA - and looks like it will be this year. Texas Tech University turned in the fastest time - 3:01.69 - but there were four other teams under 3:04.

First track finals

The first running finals of the meet were the two 10,000m races. Robert Cheseret (KEN) of the University of Arizona, second in 2004, defeated the barely 19-year-old Galen Rupp of Oregon, 28:20.11 to 28:23.75. Rupp, who pushed the pace for 24 laps, inevitably lost to a Kenyan, but he also finished ahead of five other Kenyans.

The women's 10,000m was won in 33:02.21 by Sara Slattery of the distance-rich University of Colorado, but the surprise was runner-up Caroline Bierbaum of Columbia University, second in 33:03.07. Bierman, a second-year student, had never raced on a track before January of this year.

James Dunaway for the IAAF