POSTED: Monday May 18th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Merritt and Felix shine brightest among the stars in LA

2009 Adidas Track Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California

CARSON,
Calif. - Olympic gold medalists LaShawn Merritt, Allyson Felix and
Jeremy Wariner handily dispatched the competition in their respective
races, which highlighted competition Saturday at the 2009 adidas Track
Classic at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

 

Held under
partly sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 70s, the adidas Track
Classic is the third event of USA Track & Field’s 2009 Visa Outdoor
Championships Series.

 

2008 Olympic 400m gold medalist LaShawn
Merritt cruised to victory in 20.07 seconds in the Nutrilite men’s
200m, with 2006 NCAA quadruple champion Xavier Carter second in 20.71
and Kelly Willie third in 20.73. For his efforts, while running his
non-traditional event, Merritt was named the Team USA Athlete of the
Meet, presented by Visa.

 

On the women’s side, two-time Olympic
silver medalist and World Outdoor champion Allyson Felix dominated the
adidas women’s 200m, leading off the curve into a 1.9mps headwind and
powering to the finish in 22.66. 2008 Olympic 400m bronze medalist
Sanya Richards was the runner-up in 23.03 and Sholanda Solomon, the
2006 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor 200m champion, was third in 23.10.

 

Two-time
Olympic medalist and two-time World Outdoor champion Jeremy Wariner,
who is back training with renowned coach Clyde Hart, easily won the
Visa men’s 400m in 44.66 while the Bahamas’ Chris Brown was second in
45.03. Rennie Quow of Trinidad and Tobago was third in 45.05.

 

In
a race that featured the Olympic champions from the past three Olympic
Games, reigning World Outdoor champion and Olympic silver medalist
Kerron Clement powered down the home stretch to win the men’s 400m
hurdles in a world-leading 48.38, holding off two-time Olympic gold
medalist Angelo Taylor who finished second in 48.70. 2004 Olympic gold
medalist Felix Sanchez was third in 48.95. It was a controversial win
for Clement, as the eighth hurdle in the race was set incorrectly, too
close to the seventh.

 

2008 Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper,
building off of her surprising win in Beijing,  shot out of the blocks
in the Visa women’s 100m hurdles and hammered her way to the win with a
lean at the finish in 12.78. Two-time World Outdoor medalist Perdita
Felicien was the runner-up in 12.83 while two-time World Outdoor
champion Michelle Perry was third in 12.84.

 

2008 Olympic and
World Indoor silver medalist Jenn Stuczynski went unchallenged in the
women’s pole vault, not entering the field until the other competitors
had exited. She cleared 4.76 meters/15 feet 7.25 inches on her first
attempt before moving the bar to an American record height of
4.93m/16-2 at which Stuczynski had three good attempts but failed to
clear the bar. 2000 Olympic gold medalist and three-time World Outdoor
champion Stacy Dragila was the runner-up with 4.42m/14-6.

 

In
the women’s 400m, Beijing 4x400m gold medalist Natasha Hastings won the
race, while keeping both shoes on, finishing in 51.46. Novlene Williams
of Jamaica was the runner-up in 51.83 and Shereefa Lloyd (JAM) took
third in 52.03.

 

After three delays in the women’s 100m, one
call-up and two false starts, 2007 World Outdoor bronze medalist
Carmelita Jeter ran away with the win in 11.09 with two-time Olympian
Muna Lee the runner-up in 11.22. In the adidas men’s 100m, two-time
Olympian Darvis Patton got out strong and won in 10.12.

 

With
good early season splits of 56.2, 1:54.9 and 2:54.9, two-time Olympic
medalist and 2007 double World champion Bernard Lagat won the men’s
1,500m in 3:36.38. Canada’s Nate Brannen was second in 3:37.03. In the
women’s 1,500m, Jamaica’s Kenia Sinclair was the winner in 4:13.16.

 

In
the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, 2008 Olympic Trials champion Anna
Willard won in 9:26.85. It was the fastest time ever run on American
soil. 2008 Olympic Trials runner-up Lindsay Anderson was again second
to Willard, running 9:37.88.

 

Also on the track, Aheza Kiron won
the Nutrilite women’s 5,000m in 14:56.33 and 2004 Olympic gold medalist
and two-time World Outdoor champion Dwight Phillips the men’s long jump
in 8.37m/27-5.5. Three-time Olympian Hazel Clark won the women’s 800m
in a meet record 2:01.40 and three-time USA Outdoor champion Ian Waltz
won the men’s discus with 61.70m/202-5. Yvette Lewis won the women’s
triple jump with a hop, skip and leap of 13.82m/45-4.25 and Dejen
Gebremeskel of Ethiopia won the men’s 5,000m in 13:16.52.

 
For more information on the adidas Track Classic and the 2009 Visa Championship Series, visit www.visachampionshipseries.com.

     

About USA Track & Field

 

USA
Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and
field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States.
USATF encompasses the world’s oldest organized sports, some of the
most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and
junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult
runners in the United States.

 

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

 

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Keywords · Adidas Track Classic · USA Track & Field's 2009 Visa Outdoor Championships Series · Track & Field · Athletics

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Name: Vicky Oddi
Organization: US Track and Field
Email:
Phone: +1.317-713-4670
URL: http://www.usatf.org/

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