2013 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Results

Des Moines, IA – Competing on a national stage solely against elite athletes, the Urban Knights were led by senior Vashti Thomas in their first day at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Thomas took her first step toward qualifying for Team USA in the IAAF World Championships with another sub-12.80 performance in the opening round of the 100m hurdles inside Drake Stadium. Assistant coach Lauren Smith also advanced to the semifinals in the 400m hurdles, teeing up now three individual events for ART U athletes tomorrow.

Running against Nike's Brianna Rollins, Kristi Castlin, and others in the third heat of the 100mH, Thomas demonstrated her skills. She posted a 12.79, snagging third place in her heat which automatically qualified her for Saturday's semifinals. The time was among her top five run this year and a rather impressive encore to the 12.70 that fans last saw at the NCAA Division II Championship.

"It's an amazing opportunity and I'm not going to waste it," Thomas said.

In the second heat, just two lanes over from Lolo Jones, senior Briana Stewart pushed past a challenging start and finished strong with a 13.15 coming at the end. She claimed sixth place in her heat and took 20th overall. The result kept her from the semi's.

The fourth and final heat saw Smith go head-to-head with competitors like Queen Harrison (Saucony) and Nike's Kellie Wells. Smith offered a solid 13.10 and ended up finishing fourth in the heat. That time would later translate to 19th overall and unfortunately missed the 16-woman cutoff for Saturday's semifinals.

Less than 20 minutes after the conclusion of the 100mH, Smith returned to the starting blocks for her heat in the first round of the 400m hurdles. Though she did not post a personal best, a difficult task especially with her particular heats so close to one another, Smith finished fifth in her heat with a time of 59.15. She would then await the results of the next two heats as it was the top four in each heat and the next four best marks that would qualify. In the end, Smith made the cut, finishing 15th overall and advancing to tomorrow's semi's.

The day's events began with Keanna Moody finishing off what was a brilliant freshman season in the preliminary round of the USA Junior Championships 400m dash. Battling Kendall Baisden as well as Oral Roberts' Madison Reynolds in her particular heat, Moody finished with a time of 55.27 which serves as her second lowest mark of the season. Moody's fourth place finish in the heat later translated to 10th overall and the end result had her two spots shy of qualifying for Saturday's finals.

Saturday will feature several major competitions including the semifinals of the 100m hurdles (12:25 PM PT) as well as the finals (3:52 PM PT), the semi's of the 400mH (2:03 PM PT) and Thomas in the long jump finals (1:15 PM PT). Action resumes at Drake Stadium tomorrow.