Edward, Mullings cruise to 200m semis; Henry wins 400m heat
 Alonso Edward and Steve Mullings both breezed into the semifinals of the men’s 200m at the 12th IAAF World Championship in Track and Field Tuesday in Berlin. The duo each won their 1st 2 heats on the way to the semifinals. Tabarie Henry also won his heat in the 400m to advance to the semifinals. Tyson Gay did not run in the 200m, scratching to protect a groin in injury that will require surgery after the World Championships. Another former Cougar, Aaron Armstrong, did not make it out of the opening round of the 200m. Leevan Sands just missed a medal in the triple jump, placing 4th by the narrowest of margins on a very busy for current and former Barton Community College track stars.
Men’s 200m – Alonso Edward, Steve Mullings, Aaron Armstrong
Edward and Mullings had no trouble in the opening rounds of the 200m, rolling to wins. In the quarterfinals, Edward, running for Panama coasted home with a time of 20.33 to win the 4th and final heat. Edward defeated Wallace Spearmon in the heat. Spearmon has medaled at each of the last 2 World Championships. Mullings, running for Jamaica, ran a 20.23 in the 3rd heat to easy win that heat as well. Edward won his opening round in a time of 20.71 while Mullings won in 20.62.
Aaron Armstrong, running for Trinidad and Tobago, did not make it out of the 1st round, running a 21.38 in the opening heat to finish 5th. Tyson Gay was schedule to defend his 2007 World Championship in the event but scratched due to that groin injury. He hopes to run in the 4x100m relay before getting surgery to correct the injury.
Edward, who is making his first appearance on a world stage, will get a quick baptism in the semifinals as he runs just one lane from Usain Bolt and next to Shawn Crawford – the last 2 Olympics gold medalist. Bolt will occupy lane 3 of the opening heat while Edward runs in lane 5 and Crawford, another quarterfinal heat winner, will line up in lane 6. That gives the heat 3 iof the 4 quarterfinal winners. Crawford won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics and took 2nd to Bolt in 2008.
On the surface it appears as if Mullings has the easier of the draws running in the 2nd of 2 heats that includes Spearmon.
Men’s 400m – Tabarie Henry
Henry had been struggling heading into the World Championships after a blistering 44.77 in May at the NJCAA Championships. But Henry showed no signs of that Tuesday morning, running the 2nd fastest time of the 1st round in winning the 7th and final heat in 45.14. The sophomore at Barton last year will get lane 4 in the 3rd of 3 semifinals next to Chris Brown of the Bahamas, who has run a 44.81 this year. Brown finished 4th at the Olympics last year as well as in each of the last 2 World Championships.
Men’s Triple Jump – Leevan Sands
Sands all but had a medal around his neck in the triple jump. On his 5th of 6 attempts in the finals, Sands moved into 3rd place with a leap of 56-10. At that point it looked as if Sands was going to double up the bronze medal he won at the 2008 Olympics. But on the final attempt of the day by Cuba’s Alexis Copello, he leapt 56-11 1/2 to edge Sands for the final medal. Phillips Idowu easily won the event with a jump of 58-2. Sands had also won bronze at the 2003 World Championships.
Schedule
Wednesday will not only have the 400m semifinals for Henry and semifinals of the men’s 200m it will also feature the opening round of the women’s 200m which will have three former Cougars – Campbell, Simone Facey and Laverne Jones – all running. Ryan Brathwaite will get started in the 110m hurdles for the men with opening round action.
Thursday will have the 110 hurdles semifinals and finals as well as the 200m finals for the men. The women will run their 200m semifinals. The 400m runners will take a day off before their finals on Friday. Clayton Latham, another former Cougar long jumping for St. Vincent, will get started with the opening round in that competition as well Thursday.
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