Olympic Silver Medalist Will Claye jumps to No. 7 U.S. all-time triple jump on Day 3 of USATF Outdoor Championships

2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

USATF Press Release
June 27, 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — 2012 Olympic silver medalist Will Claye captured his first outdoor triple jump title Friday at the USATF Outdoor Championships, celebrating with family and friends in the stands after his final attempt.

Claye blasted to a lifetime-best 17.75m/58-3 on his last jump to move to No. 7 on the all-time U.S. list. Claye (Phoenix, Arizona) never trailed in the competition, spanning 17.64m/57-10.5 on his third attempt, then adding a centimeter in round five before his big final leap. The man who beat him in London, Christian Taylor (Fayetteville, Georgia), jumped 17.37m/57-0 in round three to take second.

Tori Bowie (Sandhill, Mississippi) sprinted to the fastest time by an American this year in the semifinals of the 100m, lowering her lifetime best to 10.91 in heat two with a 2.0 mps tailwind. In the first heat, Tianna Bartoletta (Elyria, Ohio) claimed the U.S. lead with a PR 10.92, also with a 2.0 aiding wind. Bowie withdrew from the final of the event and Bartoletta cruised to her first U.S. outdoor title in 11.15.

Riding a just-over-the-limit 2.4 breeze in the first men’s 100m semifinal, Mike Rodgers (St. Louis, Missouri) zipped to a 9.80, the same time that he won the Pre Classic with at the end of May. It took three tries to get under way in that heat as Harry Adams (Ft. Lauderdale, Florida) and Remontay McClain (West Covina, California) both false-started. Charles Silmon (Fort Worth, Texas), last year’s NCAA champion for TCU, ran a season-best 10.07 to win the second heat. In the final, Rodgers rocketed to his first U.S. title since 2009, crossing in 10.09.

Already the world’s highest scorer this year, Trey Hardee (Austin, Texas) won his second national decathlon title with a total of 8,599 points, tacking on 81 to the 8,518 he scored to win at Gotzis, Austria, three weeks ago. Hardee, a two-time World Champion, clocked 13.69 in the 110m hurdles to start off day two, and he followed up with a solid 50.65m/166-2 in the discus. Winning the pole vault with a clearance at 5.00m/16-4.75, Hardee ended up with a 792-point cushion over runner-up Wesley Bray (Cypress, Texas).

For the 15th time in her career, Jenn Suhr (Fredonia, New York) picked up U.S. pole vault gold, this time clearing 4.60m/15-1 to win her eighth outdoor title and third in a row. Sandi Morris (Greenville, South Carolina) of Arkansas put the pressure on by clearing three heights in a row on her first attempts, including a lifetime-best 4.55m/14-11, but Suhr sailed over her winning height on the first try as Morris missed three times.

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Hayden Reed (Orange, Texas) of Alabama became the first man since Kamy Keshmiri in 1990 to win the NCAA and USA titles in the discus in the same year. Reed, who won the NCAA crown with his final throw, had a 62.19m/204-0 on his second attempt and that effort held up throughout the rest of the competition.

Defending heptathlon champion Sharon Day-Monroe (Costa Mesa, California) started off strongly with a personal best in the 100m hurdles at 13.42, and she added an outdoor shot put PR of 15.45m/50-8.25 on the way to scoring 3,925 points to lead by 123 over Barbara Nwaba (Los Angeles, California) after the first day.

Click herefor complete results.

Competition continues through Sunday and can be seen on USATF.tv and the networks of NBC.

BROADCAST SCHEDULE – USATF OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday 6/28

10am ET/7am PT Racewalk – LIVE on USATF.tv

1:30pm-4pm ET/10:30am-1pm PT – All Events – LIVE on USATF.tv

4pm-6pm ET/1pm-3pm PT – LIVE on NBC (Field Events will be LIVE on USATF.tv)

6pm-7pm ET/3pm-4pm PT – on Universal Sports

6pm ET/3pm PT – COOL DOWN – on USATF.tv

Sunday 6/29

10am ET/7am PT – Racewalk – LIVE on USATF.tv

2:30pm-3pm ET/11:30am-12pm PT – All Events – LIVE on USATF.tv

3pm-4pm ET/Noon-1pm PT – LIVE on Universal Sports (Field Events will be LIVE on USATF.tv)