Brooks silver medalist in USATF heptathlon, Wilson & Effiong advance to 400m final

EUGENE – Arkansas alum Taliyah Brooks finished as the silver medalist in the heptathlon at the USATF Championships with 6,319 points and potentially will represent Team USA in the World Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, later this summer.

A trio of Razorbacks advanced to separate finals of the 400m. Britton Wilson, 50.59, and Rosey Effiong, 51.00, earned automatic qualifiers in the women’s race while Chris Bailey advanced on time in the men’s semifinal with a 45.02.

Anna Hall won the heptathlon with 6,677 points and is the lone American to surpass the World Athletics standard of 6,480 points. Additional members of Team USA for the heptathlon will be determined by the world rankings system. There will be a field of 24 for the heptathlon at the World Championships.

“I’m super proud of second place,” stated Brooks. “Obviously, the last time I was here things didn’t go my way. So, I was glad to come to the meet, to finish in the top three, that was the goal.

“I was a bit disappointed in my score. I was coming into day two sitting nice and pretty score-wise for what I wanted. My day two kind of fell apart and that’s part of it. We just take that back home and try to work on it.”

Brooks opened the second day by leading the field in the long jump with a distance of 21-4.75 (6.52) for 1,014 points over a 21-0 (6.40) effort by Hall that picked up 975 points. In the javelin, a toss of 112-10 (42.21) for Brooks ranked 12th among the field and scored 534 points.

Heading into the 800m, Brooks needed a 2:06.50 in order to score 1,016 points to reach the qualifying standard of 6,480. Brooks clocked 2:17.71 for 855 points as she placed sixth in the event.

“It was a relief to finish the heptathlon in the top three,” stated Brooks. “I knew going into the 800m I just really needed to finish it. I was going for a personal best. As you saw I stuck on to Anna, and I died a miserable death. It’s a process and I’m working through it.”

The gap to third and fourth place was 200+ points with Chari Hawkins third at 6,053 and 6,049 for Annie Kunz.

“Hopefully, I’ll get to go to the World Championships based off of world rankings,” noted Brooks. “It sounds right now as a yes. So, we’ll see.

“I think the way we approached the season this year I very much operated like a hept. I didn’t do a lot of open track meets and normally I do, and I’d use those track meets to sharpen up what I’m good at. I woke up today feeling really good.”

Daniel Spejcher competed the decathlon in 11th place, scoring 7,467 points. Spejcher’s second day started with a 15.01 in the 110m hurdles (848 points), then included a 149-0 (45.42) discus toss which was third best in the field and added 775 points to his tally.

A 14-5.25 (4.40) pole vault followed for 731 points, and Spejcher threw the javelin 176-0 (54.64) for 643 points. Wrapping up with a 4:51.54 in the 1,500m collected 609 points to complete the day.

Bailey’s semifinal included Vernon Norwood and Bryce Deadmon from the prelim heat the previous day. This time it was Norwood leading the trio with a 44.43 in the first semifinal heat with Deadmon runner-up in 44.70 and Florida’s Ryan Willie third in 44.85.

Bailey’s 45.02, for fourth in the heat, was the top time qualifier as only Quincy Hall’s 44.86 in the second semifinal bettered him.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone won the women’s first 400m semifinal in 49.60 to lead the field. Effiong was runner-up in that heat with a 51.00 while Paris Peoples finished eighth in 53.59.

Wilson, second best overall, bettered the second semi with her 50.59 as defending champion Talitha Diggs placed second with a 50.95, third best among the field.

Qualifying in Friday events had Shamier Litte and Madison Langley-Walker advancing to the semifinal of the 400m hurdles. They both ran in the first heat, with Little claiming the race in 55.32 with Langley-Walker third in 56.32 as they each claimed an automatic qualification to the semifinal.

Overall, Little posted the second best time with Langley-Walker sixth best. Dalilah Muhammad led the field with a 54.56.

In the 100m semifinal, incoming Razorback Shawnti Jackson finished fifth in the second semifinal heat with an 11.18 to place 10th overall.