James Qualifies for NCAA 400m Final
6/8/2011 12:00:00 AM
June 8, 2011
DES MOINES, Iowa -
University of Alabama sophomore Kirani James finished second in his 400m preliminary heat on Wednesday to qualify for the finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
James finished with the 10th fastest time of the day in 45.51 but easily qualified by finishing second in his heat and reserving his strength for the finals and tomorrow's 4x400m relay preliminary.
"Kirani controlled what he needed to control and advanced with what was the easiest 400m I've seen him run," UA head coach Harvey Glance said. "He felt great afterwards and was able to back off the last 100 meters knowing that he qualified and save his energy for the rest of the week."
UA's other competitor on Wednesday did not advance out of the preliminary round as senior Fred Samoei finished 11th overall in the 800m with a time of 1:47.60. Samoei came in fourth in the final heat of the event to miss automatically qualifying and his time was just 17 hundredths of second from qualifying on time.
"Fred got off to a slow start and really made up a lot of ground in the last 100 meters but just ran out of real estate," Glance said. "It's always tricky when you're running a strategy race to try and qualify but I'm real proud of him and the way he competed."
Samoei won the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships and despite not advancing at the outdoor championships, his finish is still good enough to earn second team All-America honors.
UA will continue action at Drake Stadium on Thursday evening when the 4x400m relay team of Dwayne Extol, James, Samoei and Bobby Onyeukwu lines up in its preliminary heat at 8:20 p.m. CDT.
NCAA Championships
Alabama Results
400m (Preliminary - 3 heats. Advance top two from each heat plus next best two to final)
10. Kirani James, 45.51, Q
800m (Preliminary - 3 heats. Advance top two from each heat plus next best two to final)
11. Fred Samoei, 1:47.60
