Texas Tech high jumper Zaria Willis swept the national titles in her event at the 2019 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. She's currently competing in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Willis cleared 6 feet and was tied for eighth place after the field was narrowed down to 12 in Saturday's qualifying round at Hayward Field. Those 12 will advance to the finals at 7:15 p.m. CDT on Monday.
Also Saturday, Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Fred Curley and 2023 NCAA champion Courtney Lindsay won their first-round matches in the men's 100 meters. Curley began his career at South Plains College in Levelland. Lindsay ran at Texas Tech University from 2021-2023.
Carly won the second of five heats in 10.03 seconds, while Lindsay comfortably won the last of five heats in 10.00 seconds, the Olympic qualifying standard and his best time of the season. The semifinals are scheduled for Sunday at 7:48 p.m. CDT, with the final two hours later.
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At the last Olympic Trials, the top three in the 100m were Baylor's Trayvon Bromell, Texas CU's Ronnie Baker and Curley. This time around, six of the 27 semifinalists are from Texas schools, but fielding an all-Texas team will be more difficult.
The top three qualifiers — five-time SJX world champion Noah Lyles, five-time world champion Christian Coleman and two-time world silver medalist in the 200 meters Kenny Bednarek — are not from Texas.
In other events Saturday, Texas Tech sprinter Alyssa Colbert placed sixth in the heats and 17th out of 27 in the women's 100 semifinals. She ran a wind-free 11.18 seconds.
Denim Rogers, who finished his collegiate career as a second-team All-American for the Red Raiders in 2023, placed 13th in the decathlon.
Over the two days of competition, Rogers, a Midland Lee High School graduate, placed second in the 100 meters (10.51), third in the 110 hurdles (13.78), fourth in the pole vault (15-11) and fifth in the 400 meters (47.48) and javelin (194-7), but retired from all three attempts in the long jump, likely missing out on a place in the top 10 overall.
Fellow Tech alum Jalen Shields placed 14th out of 24 in the long jump preliminaries. His best time was 25 feet, 4 1/2 inches, three inches shy of the top 12 who advanced to Monday's finals.
Two former Tech All-Americans will compete in Sunday's finals: Benard Koetter in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and Zach Bradford in the pole vault.
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