ANNA PIERCE

EVENT: 1,500-meter run

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in Greenwood. Graduated from Telstar High School in Bethel in 2002.

QUALIFYING: Pierce has the fifth-best qualifying time (4:06.11) in the 1,500 as she looks to get back to the Olympics. She’s a little less than five seconds behind the top qualifier, Morgan Uceny(4:01.59). Pierce ran her qualifying mark in the 2012 USATF Occidental High Performance Meet on May 19.

COMMENT: Pierce battled illness to miss much of the 2011 season, but she certainly can make the jump to win the event. She has previous Olympic experience, having run the 3,000-meter steeplechase in Beijing in 2008. She has also run a sub-4:00 1,500: a 3:59.38 in 2009.

BECKY O’BRIEN

Advertisement

EVENT: Shot put, Discus

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in Cumberland. Graduated from Greely High School in 2008.

QUALIFYING: O’Brien qualified in the discus in the Mid-America Conference championships on May 13, 2011 with a throw of 59.04 meters. Her shot put qualifier of 17.59 meters was thrown on April 15, 2012 at the Lewisburg Bison Outdoor Classic.

COMMENT: O’Brien took the spring semester off from the University of New York at Buffalo to get ready for the Olympic Trials. She has provisionally qualified in the two events. Twenty-four throwers will compete in both events, and her distances should put her squarely in the middle of both. She feels she’s in the best shape she’s been in years and has a chance to make it to London.

BEN SHOREY

EVENT: 20K race walk

Advertisement

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in Osborn. Graduated from Ellsworth High School in 2001.

QUALIFYING: Shorey ran his qualifying time (1:34:08.00) when he won the USATF Wisconsin & Illinois 20K Racewalk Championship on May 6.

COMMENT: Shorey, who won the 50K race walk national championship last year, did not qualify for the Olympics in that event. He finished third in the 50K Olympic Trials race, which was held last Jan. 22. Since all his training is done for the longer racewalk, he said it would be difficult to contend in the shorter distance.

LAUREN FORGUES

EVENT: 20K racewalk

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in Boothbay. Graduated from Boothbay Region High in 2006.

Advertisement

QUALIFYING: Forgues raced to her qualifying time (1:37:41) in a competition on June 26, 2011.

COMMENT: Forgues’ time is the fifth-best among the 20K walkers but she has fared well against the four ahead of her. She has done much of her training in California and is looking forward to competing for a berth in London. Since no female runner has achieved the Olympic “A”’ standard of 1:33:30, the race winner will be the lone U.S. representative in London.

RILEY MASTERS

EVENT: 1,500-meter run

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in Bangor, attended the University of Maine before transferring in January to Oklahoma.

QUALIFYING: Achieved the Olympic Trials “A” standard of 3:37.19 last month in Pasadena, Calif. Only one collegiate runner has done better this year. To earn a berth, he must finish among the top three and meet the Olympics “A” standard of 3:35.50 in the trials final.

Advertisement

COMMENT: Bernard Lagat (3:33.11) is the fastest of 10 American men who have achieved the Olympic “A” standard, so Masters is competing more for the experience than a ticket to London. He plans to run in a U-23 meet in Guanajuato, Mexico, in early July.

BEN TRUE

EVENT: 10,000- and 5,000-meter runs

MAINE CONNECTION: Grew up in North Yarmouth, graduated from Greely High and Dartmouth.

QUALIFYING: True is one of the nine who have run the Olympic “A” standard of 27:45 in the 10,000. His time (27:41.17) is the eighth-best among them, with Galen Rupp’s 26:48 leading the pack. If True can place among the top three in the 10,000 final, he’s London-bound. If not, he’ll have another chance in the 5,000. He’d have to finish among the top three and under 13:20, the “A” standard. Lagat (12:53.60) is the fastest of eight men who already have it.

COMMENT: Should True qualify, he will join his girlfriend, Sarah Groff, in London. She is one of three female triathletes representing the U.S., having qualified last August with a seventh-place finish in a World Championship event in London.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.