Asked last month what other hurdler he would like to watch, Caleb Dean named two: the world record holder and the American record holder in the 400-meter hurdles.
Dean will have a chance to compete against U.S. record-holder Rai Benjamin in the 400-meter hurdles final on Sunday at the USA Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. And if he can maintain his recent form, the Texas Tech graduate student could follow in the footsteps of world record-holder Karsten Warholm at the upcoming Paris Olympics.
Dean won Friday's qualifying semifinal in a time of 48.92 seconds. Since the NCAA postseason, the Bowerman Award finalist has won five straight races, most of which he won comfortably after jumping out to big leads.
The preliminary final will be held at Hayward Field at 7:20 p.m. Sunday, but it's clear who the winner is: Benjamin's time is 46.17 seconds, while Dean's lifetime best is his NCAA Championship-winning time of 47.23 seconds.
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Also competing in the finals will be 2020 Olympian David Kendziera, 2022 World bronze medalist Trevor Bassitt, 2023 U.S. runner-up CJ Allen and 2022 U.S. third-place finisher Kalifa Rosser. Also competing will be former South Plains College star Chris Robinson, who transferred to the University of Alabama and finished second to Dean at the NCAA Championships.
Saturday and Sunday are the final two days of a 10-day rally in Eugene.
FINAL MAKERS: Courtney Lindsay made it to the final round in the 200m and Jonah Koech made it to the final round in the 800m.
Courtney Lindsay, who won the NCAA Championships last year as a senior at Tech, advanced to the 200-meter final after placing second to Kenny Bednarek in the semifinals. Lindsay ran a wind-free 20.05 seconds.
He needs to finish in the top three to make the U.S. team for Paris, but that will be a tough call when he's competing against Noah Lyles, Christian Coleman, Elyon Knighton and Bednarek at 8:49 p.m. on Saturday.
Six-time All-American Bryce Hoppel of Midland High School and Jonah Koech of Texas Tech University advanced to the 800-meter final after placing 1-2 in the heats. Hoppel ran a PR of 1:44.01 and Koech ran a PR of 1:44.47. Texas Tech's other two runners, Charles Jones (PR of 1:45.99) and Vincent Crisp (PR of 1:47.17), did not advance to the final.
In the first round of the women's 100m hurdles, Aleisha Johnson recorded a season-best time of 12.37 seconds, the second-fastest time among the 27 competitors. Johnson transferred from the University of Oregon to Texas Tech University in her final NCAA season in 2019, where she earned her master's degree.
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