EUGENE, Ore. — The Olympic dream has come true for Lady Tiger great Muna Lee as she sprinted to her first U.S. Outdoor title in the 100-meter dash with a blazing time of 10.85 seconds in Saturday’s final at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
Lee lined up in the final with a personal best of 10.97 in the event, but raced to a new lifetime best and new Hayward Field stadium record against arguably the strongest 100-meter field in the world outside of the event final at the Olympic Games.
The stage was set for a dramatic conclusion to an already exciting day of track and field in “Track Town, USA” as only the top three finishers would qualify for the U.S. Olympic Team.
Lee knew she was in the mix to make the U.S. squad but likely was not considered the favorite to win the race after qualifying with the fifth-fastest semifinal time of 10.89w on Friday.
She also lined up against several runners with more impressive credentials than herself, including the 2003 World champion and defending United States champion Torri Edwards, the 2007 World silver medalist Lauryn Williams, the 2008 World indoor champion Angela Williams and the two-time World outdoor 200-meter champion Allyson Felix.
But she defied the odds to become the fifth current and former LSU track and field athlete to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, joining former Tiger standout Isa Phillips, senior sprinters Kelly Baptiste and Richard Thompson, and junior Nickiesha Wilson.
“I knew that I had a chance to make the team, but I’m just so proud and excited to actually win,” Lee said. “Those girls just run so fast. This is actually the first time that I didn’t focus on who was next to me. I just went out there and ran my race. This isn’t my best race because I feel that I’m a lot stronger in the 200. But I’m excited about my performance today.”
LSU head coach Dennis Shaver was also proud to see his former pupil blow away the rest of the field in winning her first career U.S. Outdoor championship in any event as a professional.
“Having been Muna’s sprint coach through her four-year career at LSU and even for a year as a professional, I couldn’t be more proud for her in what she accomplished today,” Shaver said. “To see her have success training under Coach Anderson is great because she’s had to overcome a lot of adversity in the last year. He’s a friend of mine and someone who has been great with her.
“I’ve tried to help in all possible ways to see this day come for Muna. She is a tremendous athlete and an even better person, and this has certainly been a day for her to remember.”
Junior All-American Trindon Holliday and LSU sprint legend Xavier Carter also moved one step closer to making the U.S. team by qualifying for Sunday’s semifinal of the men’s 100-meter dash scheduled to run at 4:30 p.m. CDT.
In a fast quarterfinal that saw American great and reigning World champion Tyson Gay set a new American record of 9.77 and Clemson’s Travis Padgett set a new collegiate record of 9.89 with the help of a legal tailwind, Carter blazed to the finish line with a new personal best time of 10.00 to finish eighth and Holliday clocked a time of 10.09 to grab the 16th and final qualifying spot for the semifinal round.
Sophomore LaTavia Thomas‘ bid to make the 800-meter final appeared to come to an end only 200 meters into her semifinal race as she was one of four runners to fall while running through traffic into the first turn. Thomas went down along with Nicole Teter, Becky Horn and Kameisha Bennett, but picked herself up and finished the race in 2 minutes, 17.53 seconds for 15th place.
Despite her misfortune on Saturday afternoon, the head referee ruled that all four runners were to advance to Monday’s final scheduled for 10:15 p.m. The final will now run with 12 competitors instead of the eight previously scheduled to advance beyond the semifinal round.
Carter and Holliday are not the only LSU athletes scheduled to compete on Sunday as LSU great Russ Buller steps onto the runway for the finals of the men’s pole vault and former standouts Derrick Brew and Cynetheia Rooks line up in the quarterfinals of the 400-meter dash. NBC is set to air live coverage of Sunday’s action from 6-7 p.m.