EUGENE, Ore. – The London Olympic dreams continued for one Mainer on Thursday but ended for three others.

Anna Pierce of Greenwood advanced out of the preliminary round in the women’s 1,500 meters to keep alive her hopes of going to a second Olympics.

But former Greely High standouts Ben True and Becky O’Brien saw their hopes vanish, as did Bangor’s Riley Masters.

True finished sixth in the finals of the 5,000 meters at Hayward Field with a time of 13 minutes, 28.02 seconds.

He previously placed 12th in the 10,000 meters.

Both races were won by Galen Rupp, who set a trials record in each event. His race in the 5,000 was spectacular, as he outkicked former world champion Bernard Lagat to win in 13:22.67. Lagat was second at 13:22.82.

True was in contact with the leaders for most of the race but couldn’t match their kick over the final two laps. In addition to finishing in the top three, True also needed to run faster than the Olympic “A” standard of 13:20.00.

Pierce, who finished 10th in the steeplechase at the 2008 Olympics, advanced to the semifinals of the 1,500 by finishing second in her heat with a time of 4:15.86.

Pierce ran 4:05.42 — below the Olympic “A” standard — in a race last week.

The semifinals are at 6:45 p.m. today.

Masters, of Bangor, and O’Brien, of Cumberland, were eliminated in the prelims.

O’Brien was 16th in the preliminary round of the shot put, with the top 12 advancing to today’s finals. She had a throw of 53 feet, ¼ inch on her first attempt but fouled on her next two. She was 16½ inches shy of the last qualifier.

O’Brien also failed to get out of the preliminary round in the discus last week.

Masters, who attended the University of Maine before transferring to Oklahoma in January, missed advancing to today’s 1,500 semifinals by a blink. He finished eighth in his heat in 3:42.71 and wound up with the 25th-best time overall. Twenty-four runners — the top six in each heat and the next six fastest overall — advanced. Dorian Ulrey got the 24th spot with a time of 3:42.55.

In other finals:

• Julie Culley won the women’s 5,000 in a personal-best 15:13.77. Defending champ Molly Huddle, the American record holder, finished second in 15:14.40, and Kim Conley made a late charge to edge Julia Lucas for third in 15:19.79.

• Evan Jager won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:17.40. Donn Cabral was second in 8:19.81, and Kyle Alcorn finished third in 8:22.17.

• Lance Brooks won the discus with a personal best of 213-9. Jarred Rome made his third Olympics as runner-up with a throw of 207-10, and Jason Young earned the final place on the team at 203-11.

• Brad Walker won his fourth U.S. pole vault title, clearing 18-7¼. Jeremy Scott was second at 18-4¼ and Scott Roth was third at the same height, but Roth does not have the Olympic “A standard of 18-9¼, so the third spot on the Olympic team went to fourth-place finisher Derek Miles.

 

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