SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Isaiah Harris of Lewiston finished second in the 800 meters at the U.S. track and field championship on Sunday to earn a trip to the world championships.
Harris ran a personal-best time of 1 minute, 44.53 seconds. Donavan Brazier won the race in 1:44.14 and Drew Windle finished third in 1:44.95.
Clayton Murphy, last year’s Olympic bronze medalist, did not start the race because of a sore hamstring from the 1,500 final on Saturday.
Harris, who recently finished his sophomore year at Penn State, qualified for the final by running 1:45.77 in the semifinals on Friday. His previous personal best was 1:45.12.
The world championships take place in London in August.
Matthew Forgues of Boothbay finished fourth in the 20K racewalk with a time of 1:32.30.27.
ARIES MERRITT will be making a return to the world championships, this time, with a working kidney.
The world-record holder finished second behind Aleec Harris in the 110-meter hurdles.
Merritt won bronze at the 2015 world championships in Beijing with his kidneys barely functioning because of a genetic disorder. He received a transplant from his sister less than a week later. Now healthy, he’s ready to see what he can do with worlds being held at the venue where he won an Olympic gold medal during the 2012 London Games.
“I always felt once I was healthy, all it would take is for me to put in the work,” Merritt explained. “That’s something I’ve been lacking. I haven’t been able to put in the work in two years.”
Harris proved uncatchable as he finished in 13.24 seconds. Merritt was 0.07 seconds behind, and former University of Oregon football player Devon Allen took third.
JUST LIKE in the 100, Christian Coleman took the early lead in the 200. And just like in the 100, he was caught at the last moment. Coleman was outleaned at the finish by Ameer Webb, who finished in 20.09 seconds to win by 0.01. Elijah Hall-Thompson was third.
“Racing at this high level, you can never think you have it,” Coleman said. “He got me today.”
Oregon standout Deajah Stevens won the 200 from the outside lane, edging Kimberlyn Duncan and Tori Bowie.
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