June 29, 2012

U.S. Olympic Team Trials Website

EUGENE, Ore. - Olympic dreams are still alive for three current and former Ole Miss track and field athletes.

Isiah Young, Brittney Reese and Antwon Hicks competed in preliminary rounds of their events Friday at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and all three advanced to the next round.

Young, a junior at Ole Miss, had a fantastic showing in the 200 meters on Friday. He won his heat and clocked the fifth-best time overall at 20.38, not far off his school record of 20.32 when he won the SEC title earlier this year. He qualified for the 200 meter semifinals (heat 2), which will take place Saturday at 8 p.m. CT.

Young also ran in the 100 meter preliminaries this past Saturday, missing the semifinals by only .005 of a second.

A pair of former Rebels also advanced in their respective events.

Reese, the four-time defending women's long jump world champion and a former NCAA champion with Ole Miss, easily qualified for Sunday's long jump finals on just one attempt in the prelims. She leapt 22-7 on her first attempt, which ended up being good enough for third-best on the day. Sunday's final starts at 5 p.m. CT.

Hicks, also a former NCAA champion, made it easily into the semifinal round of the 110-meter hurdles. He placed second in his heat and claimed the third-best time of the day with a 13.24. The 110-meter hurdles semifinal will take place Saturday at 6:20 p.m. CT, with Hicks running in heat 2.

The meet will be broadcast live on NBC on Saturday (8-9 p.m. CT) and Sunday (6-7 p.m. CT).

Current Rebels who have already competed at the trials, but did not advance past the preliminaries, include Mike Granger (100 meters), Ricky Robertson (high jump) and Carson Blanks (400-meter hurdles). Freshman Sam Kendricks, who traveled with his teammates to Eugene, just missed the cut to compete as a provisional qualifier.

Former Rebels who competed but did not advance are Colin Moleton (javelin) and Lee Moore (400-meter hurdles).