With Sunday’s midnight qualifying deadline passed, six South Jersey athletes have been accepted into the USATF Championships next month in Eugene.
Pleasantville’s Nia Ali, Kingsway’s Samuel Allen, Delsea’s Josh Awotunde, Eastern’s English Gardner, Florence’s Curtis Thompson and Cherokee’s Jess Woodard are all scheduled to compete in the U.S. Championships, scheduled for July 6-9 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
Earlier this week, we took a look at the six South Jersey athletes headed for Eugene for the Under-20 Championships, held concurrently at the same venue. Click here for that post.
Click here for the schedule of events for nationals: Complete time schedule.
√ Nia Ali: Now 34, Ali is still going strong and remains one of the fastest hurdlers in the world. Ali, Olympic silver medalist in 2016, world champion in 2019 and indoor world champion in 2014 and 2016, is No. 9 in the world this year and No. 6 American with her 12.53 in the 100-meter hurdles in a meet in Gainesville back in April. Her 12.34 from Worlds in 2019 in Doha, Qatar, is No. 12 in world history and No. 4 all-time U.S. Ali is the No. 6 seed this year and actually has a 12.49 in the qualifying period from the semifinals of last year’s U.S. Championshisp in Eugene on June 25, 2022, two days after the 2023 qualifying period opened.
√ Samuel Allen: Kingsway graduate Sam Allen, 21, qualified in the 20,000-meter walk thanks to his 1:30.43.43 from his 3rd-place finish last June at the 2022 World Race Walking Team USA Trials at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon, Calif. [The race walk qualifying window opened Jan. 31, 2022.] Allen ranked No. 2 among American men in the 20,000-meter race walk last year. Allen most recently placed 3rd at Mt. SAC with a 1:31.05.29. In February, he won the mile walk at Millrose [6:13.58] and was 4th at U.S. Senior Nationals in the 3,000 in Albuquerque [12:51.32].
√ Josh Awotunde: The 28-year-old Awotunde has only competed three times this this year after placing 3rd in the shot put at last year’s World Championships in Eugene with a mammoth 73-1 ½, the no. 5 throw in meet history. Awotunde is No. 18 in world history with that throw and No. 11 in U.S. history. So far this year, Awotunde has thrown only at the USATF Grand Prix in L.A. in May and the Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy, and 5th annual Irena Szewińska Memorial at Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak Stadium in Bydgoszcz, Poland, last month. His best throw so far this year is 68-7 ¼ in Poland, which makes him No. 29 in the world this year and No. 11 among Americans. Because it came after the 2023 qualifying window opened, Awotunde’s 73-1 ½ is his seeded throw, which makes him the No. 3 seed.
√ English Gardner: Gardner, a two-time U.S. champion, 2016 Olympic 4-by-100 gold medalist and 2021 4-by-100 silver medalist, returns for her 11th U.S. national championships. Gardner, now 31, won the 100 at nationals in 2013 in 10.85 and in 2016 – the Olympic Trials – in 10.74. Gardner hasn’t broken 11.00 since 2016 but she ran 11.09 in 2021, 11.08 in 2022 and 11.13 already this year, that coming last month in Bermuda. Her qualifying time is 11.08 from a meet last September in Pápa, Hungary. Gardner’s 10.74 PR is No. 10 in world history and No. 5 in U.S. history (although she’d be higher on a list of clean athletes).
√ Curtis Thompson: Florence High graduate goes after his 3rd U.S. title in the javelin. Thompson, 27, won the 2018 national title in Des Moines at 249-3 ¾ and the 2021 national title in Eugene at 271-7. That was also the Olympic Trials, and Thompson went on to compete in his first Olympics in August 2021 in Tokyo. Thompson is the top seed by virtue of his 276-4 at the NACAC Championships in Freeport, the Bahamas, last Aug. 20, but his 287-8 ¾ in East Stroudsburg – No. 3 in U.S. history – also came within the qualifying window [July 9, 2022], so not sure why he’s not listed with that mark. Doesn’t really matter. So far this spring, Thompson’s best throw is a 261-3 ¾ at Kuortaneen Keskusurheilukenttä in Kuortane, Finland, which ranks him No. 5 among U.S. men. But the top five have all thrown between 261-3 ¾ and 265-1 ¾ so there’s no clear favorite, although Thompson does have the best PR among all qualifiers. Thompson’s 287-8 ¾ in East Stroudsburg is the best throw by an American since Breaux Greer threw 299-6 in Indianapolis in 2007.
√ Jessica Woodard: Similarly, Woodard is the No. 3 seed in the shot put with her 63-7 ¾ to place 3rd at the U.S. Championships in Eugene this past June. The 28-year-old Marlton native is the No. 14 American woman all-time with that throw. Woodard’s best this year is 61-5 ¼ in Tucson, Ariz., last month, which makes her No. 6 U.S. thrower this year and No. 20 in the world.
√ And maybe …: One other athlete to keep an eye on: Winslow graduate Tionna Tobias, who won the Big Ten heptathlon for Iowa with a lifetime-best score of 5,640 in May, is listed as “not qualified” on the “status of entries” list because the A standard is 6,000 points. But only women are listed with qualifying marks of at least 6,000, and the qualifying standard page on the USATF web site shows a field size of 16, and Tobias’s 5,640 is the 16th-highest score listed, so it’s possible she will be added to the field. Of course with USATF in charge, we probably won’t know until the meet is underway.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 