SACRAMENTO, Calif. — NCAA pole champion Russ Buller moved one step closer to a possible berth on the Olympic team, advancing to Sunday’s pole vault final at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento. At the same time, Derrick Brew advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round of the men’s 400-meter dash with a second place finish in his heat.
Buller finished fourth overall in the preliminary round of the men’s pole vault late Friday evening, clearing 18 feet 2 inches. More importantly, however, the primary American favorite did not advance, increases Buller’s chances in Sunday’s final. American record-holder Jeff Hartwig failed to clear a height, opening the door for a number of athletes on Sunday.
Brew finished second in his heat of the 400-meter dash and advanced to Saturday evening’s 400-meter semifinal. Brew ran a time of 46.01 seconds to advance, finishing behind James Davis, while holding off Florida’s Geno White to earn one of the automatic qualifying spots with a top-two finish.
Brew will have his work cut out for him Saturday night, however. He has drawn lane one, the inside lane, for the semifinal on a track with a notoriously tight curve and has drawn the heat with world record-holder and defending gold medalist Michael Johnson. The top four in each of the two semifinal heats will advance to Sunday’s final.
Former Lady Tiger Youlanda Warren advanced to Saturday’s women’s 400-meter semifinal with a strong 51.65 on Friday evening. Jearl Miles-Clark won Warren’s heat with a time of 51.00.
Former Lady Tiger Cheryl Taplin narrowly advanced to Saturday’s semifinal round of the women’s 100-meter dash, clocking an 11.42 in the preliminary round. Taplin will run in a semifinal heat that includes Inger Miller and two-time defending gold medalist, Gail Devers.
Also competing on Saturday will be current Tiger Marcus Thomas, who will take part in the men’s long jump prelims. Thomas finished third in the long jump at the NCAA Championships last month and was the SEC Indoor champion in the event. Thomas will also compete in the triple jump next week.
NBC will broadcast live from Sacramento this evening from 6-8 p.m.