Talley, Three Former Hurricanes to Compete at U.S. Olympic Trials
June 25, 2008
CORAL GABLES – Khadija Talley ended her collegiate career two weeks ago with an All-American performance at the NCAA National Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. This weekend she will try to make the U.S. Olympic team in both the shot put and the discus at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Talley finished fourth in the discus at the NCAAs with a toss of 54.73m, but her season and career-best mark was 57.10m, the 13th best mark this year by any American. The discus qualifying round begins at 7:50 p.m. this Friday, the top 12 marks will move on to Sunday’s final.
The three-time ACC Champion will also compete in the shot put. During this season’s NCAA East Regional, Talley recorded her career-best distance with a second-place finish at 17.02m. The shot put’s qualifying begins Thursday, July 3 at 9:20 p.m., again the top 12 will move to the finals on Saturday, July 5.
Joining Talley at the trials will be former Hurricanes Lauryn Williams, Wylleshia Myrick and Dominique Darden. Williams and Myrick will both be participating in the 100 and 200-meter dashes while Darden will run in the 400-meter hurdles.
While with Miami (2002-04), Williams was a nine-time All-American, and the 2004 NCAA Champion in the 100-meters. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Williams took silver and in 2005 she won the World Championship in the 100-meters.
Myrick, attended UM from 1998-2002 and was a two-time All-American, in the 200-meters in 2000 (23.41) and the 100-meters in 2002 (11.72).
The qualifying heats for the 100-meters begin this Friday at 5:30 p.m. with the semifinal and final rounds to follow on Saturday. The 200-meters will follow the same format beginning Friday, July 4.
Darden earned a UM record 15 All-American nods from 2003-06, including three in the 400-meter hurdles. Her quarterfinal heat will begin this Friday at 6:30 p.m. with the semifinals scheduled for Saturday at 4:10 p.m.
*All times are Pacific Standard Time