Grimes fails to advance at Trials
6/28/2008 5:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. -- In some very fast men's 100-meter sprinting, former Abilene Christian University sprinter and defensive back Mickey Grimes did not advance past the quarterfinals Saturday before a capacity crowd of 20,604 at historic Hayward Field in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials.
Grimes ran 10.26 to place fifth in his heat of the preliminaries early in the afternoon in the 96-degree heat, then he came back later in the day to run 10.22 for seventh in his heat of the quarterfinals.
Clemson junior Travis Padgett won Grimes' quarterfinal heat in 9.89, one of the fastest collegiate times ever. Tyson Gay, former Arkansas sprinter and IAAF World Championships winner now competing for Adidas, won the first of three quarterfinal heats in 9.77 to set an American record, breaking the mark of 9.79 set by Maurice Green in 1999.
The slowest of the 16 men who advanced to the 100 semifinals Sunday ran 10.12. The trials, returning to Eugene, "Track Town USA," for the first time since 1980, are being televised by NBC on broadcast television and USA on cable television.
Grimes started the USA winning 400 relay at the IAAF World Championships in 2001 in Edmonton.
Former ACU long jumper Kevin Dilworth was eliminated in Friday's qualifying. The only other former Wildcat with a qualifying mark, former NCAA Division II national champion vaulter Angie Aguilar, has a provisional mark of 13-11.75. Officials will accept only 24 athletes in the women's pole vault, and Aguilar is unlikely to be ranked among the top 24 when the competition starts July 3.
At the Jamaican Olympic Trials, former Wildcat national champion Delloreen Ennis-London will compete in the 100-meter prelims Sunday afternoon with the finals scheduled for Sunday night. Ennis-London is the top seed in the race with a season-best time of 12.54 seconds. She finished fourth in the 100 hurdles at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, before seeing her Olympic run end in the semifinals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
Ennis-London was second in the 100 hurdles at the 2005 IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, before finishing thrd in the event at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. She was third in the 100 hurdles at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. If she earns a spot on the Jamaican Olympic Team, she will join former Wildcat all-America Tim Bright as the only former ACU athletes to compete in three Olympic Games. Bright competed for the United States in 1984 (Los Angeles), 1988 (Seoul, South Korea) and 1992 (Barcelona, Spain).
Also at the Jamaican Trials, former ACU national champion Marvin Essor advanced to Sunday's final in the 400 meters. Essor, the 2005 national champion in the 400 meters, qualified in 46.40 seconds, finishing second in the third heat to earn an automatic spot in the final.
