Noble runs quickest 800 in prelims

INDIANAPOLIS – Rebekah Noble of the University of Oregon had the top time Thursday during preliminaries of the Junior women’s 800-meter run at the USA track and field championships.

Noble, a Rogers HS product, won her heat in 2 minutes, 8.44 seconds. High school sophomore Blaire Dinsdale of Cedar Valley Track Club (Iowa), who won the second heat in 2:09.21, was the only qualifier within 1.2 seconds of Noble’s time. The final is today.

In other results for athletes with local ties, Robert Williams of Washington State placed seventh in the Junior men’s 110 hurdles finals in 13.93.

Eric Dudley, formerly of WSU, qualified for today’s semifinals in the men’s 400 hurdles by timing 50.67 in the first round. WSU’s John Cassleman ran 51.62 in the first round and didn’t advance.

The women’s 1,500 first round was scratched. Saturday’s final will include former Rogers runner Sarah Schwald.

Elsewhere, a series of severe thunderstorms wiped out the opening night’s competition, including the preliminary 100 heats that were to feature Justin Gatlin and Marion Jones.

Those heats were rescheduled for this morning. That means there will be three rounds of the 100 today.

The 10,000 finals, the last events on Thursday’s schedule, were reset for tonight. Other postponed events include finals in the women’s triple jump and women’s javelin.

“It’s very strange,” said Dan Browne, one of the 10,000 entrants. “In all my years of running, I’ve never had this happen.”

Abdi Abdirahman, the two-time defending U.S. 10,000 champion, said he might withdraw from the event because he also planned to run in the 5,000. The 5,000 will be run just before the 10,000 at the end of today’s crowded schedule.

The stadium was evacuated twice, first for nearly two hours in the afternoon. The second evacuation came at 7:25 p.m., just before the 100 heats were to begin. That band of wind, rain and lightning rolled through slowly, and meet officials decided to call it quits because another series of storms were bearing down on the downtown Indianapolis area.

The fans forced to leave Carroll Stadium missed a chance to see Gatlin, who shares the world 100 record of 9.77 seconds with Jamaican Asafa Powell. Powell set the mark last year in Athens, then Gatlin tied it May 12 in Doha, Qatar. Powell tied the mark again June 11 in Gateshead, England.

Gatlin has run 9.88 or faster four times this year.

Jones, 30, has won 13 U.S. titles.

“She’s ready,” her agent Charles Wells said. “She’ll run the 200, too.”