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Fountain leads Heptathlon 1st Day; Gay sprints into 100m semifinals
 Two former Barton Community College athletes with the good chances for a medal made it through the opening day of track and field at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in good shape. Hyleas Fountain leads the Heptathlon after the 1st day of competition while Tyson Gay cruised through a pair of 100m races and into the semifinals Friday at the 29th Olympiad. A 3rd former Cougar competed as well in the opening but Mardrea Hyman was not able to make it to the finals of the 3000m Steeplechase.
Heptathlon (W) – Hyleas Fountain
Fountain had a good 1st day in the Heptathlon in her 1st Olympiad. Fountain won the opening 2 events – the 100m hurdles and high jump – then fell out of 1st in the shot put. Fountain finished the day with her 3rd win in 4 heptathlon events in the 200m to regain 1st place more than half way through.
During the opening event Fountain ran a 12.78 in the 100m hurdles, shy her record setting 12.65 in the US Trials but good enough for more than 1000 points, scoring 1158 to start the competition. She followed with a career-best effort in the high jump, going 6-2 1/4 to add 1093 points to her total to end the morning session. In the evening session, Fountain struggled at the shot put – one of her weaker events of the 7 – scoring just 751 points with a toss of 43-10, which dropped her 50 points behind Nataliva Dobrynska of the Ukraine who scored 1015 in the shot put.
 But Fountain rebounded to run her best time ever in the 200m in 23.21 and retake the lead from Dobrynska. It was another 1000-point mark as Fountain scored 1058 while Dobrynska, also running a personal best, finished the 200m with 944 points with a mark of 24.39. After the 1st day, Fountain leads with 4060 followed by Dobrynska with 3996. There are 5 competitors with more than 3900 points.
100m (M) – Tyson Gay
Gay opened competition in his 1st Olympics with a win in his heat of 100m. Gay eased up to a 10.22 in the 5th of 10 heats to make it through to the quarterfinals in the morning session in Beijing. In the evening session Gay finished 2nd in his heat behind Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago. Gay ran a 10.09 in the quarters while Thompson ran a 9.99 in the 2nd of 5 heats.
Gay will run Saturday in the semifinals and hopefully finals. The finals are slated for 8:45 am Central Daylight Time (9:45 pm in Beijing). Of the16 spots in the semifinals exactly half are filled by the United States (3), Jamiaca (3), and Trinidad & Tobago (2). Gay will run in the same heat as former world record holder Asa Powell of Jamaica and Thompson, who beat him in the quarters. United State teammate Darvis Powell will also run in the semi as 5 of the 8 runners have broken 10.0 this season.
 3000m steeplechase (W) – Mardrea Hyman
Hyman did not finish her heat of the steeplechase ending her 2nd Olympics and 1st time in the 3000m steeplechase. She was part of a collision and was not able to finish the race. She had run the 1500m as the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Still to compete
Saturday, August 16
Heptathlon - Women
Hyleas Fountain (USA)
Long jump - 8:50 pm CDT (Friday)
Javelin - 6 am CDT
800m - 8:45 am CDT
100m - Women
Laverne Jones-Ferrette (US Virgin Islands)
1st round - 9:50 pm CDT (Friday)
Quarterfinals - 7:35 am CDT
100m - Men
Tyson Gay (USA)
Semifinals - 7:05 am CDT
Finals - 9:30 am CDT
Sunday, August 17
100m - Women
Laverne Jones-Ferrette (US Virgin Islands)
Semifinals - 6:45 am CDT
Finals - 9:25 am CDT
3000m Steeplechase - Women
Mardrea Hyman (Jamaica)
Finals - 8:30 am CDT
Monday, August 18
400m - Men
Tabarie Henry (US Virgin Islands)
1st round - 8 pm CDT (Sunday)
Triple Jump - Men
Leevan Sands (Bahamas)
1st round - 9 pm CDT (Sunday)
200m - Men
Aaron Armstrong (Trinidad &Tobago)
1st round - 9:05 pm CDT (Sunday)
Quarterfinals - 7:05 am CDT
110m hurdles - Men
Ryan Brathwaite (Barbados)
1st round - 10:10 pm CDT (Sunday)
Tuesday, August 19
200m - Women
Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
Laverne Jones-Ferrette (US Virgin Islands)
1st round - 9:40 pm CDT (Monday)
Quarterfinals - 6 am CDT
110m hurdles - Men
Ryan Brathwaite (Barbados)
Quarterfinals - 7:45 am CDT
200m - Men
Aaron Armstrong (Trinidad &Tobago)
Semifnals - 8:25 am CDT
400m - Men
Tabarie Henry (US Virgin Islands)
Semifinals - 8:45 am CDT
Wednesday, August 20
110m hurdles - Men
Ryan Brathwaite (Barbados)
Semifinals - 8:30 am CDT
200m - Women
Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
Laverne Jones-Ferrette (US Virgin Islands)
Semifnals - 8:55 am CDT
200m - Men
Aaron Armstrong (Trinidad &Tobago)
Finals - 9:20 am CDT
Thursday, August 21
200m - Women
Veronica Campbell-Brown (Jamaica)
Laverne Jones-Ferrette (US Virgin Islands)
Finals - 6:30 am CDT
Triple Jump - Men
Leevan Sands (Bahamas)
Finals - 7:20 am CDT
400m - Men
Tabarie Henry (US Virgin Islands)
Finals - 8:20 am CDT
110m hurdles - Men
Ryan Brathwaite (Barbados)
Finals - 8:45 am CDT
4x100m Relay - Men
Tyson Gay (USA)
Aaron Armstrong (Trinidad &Tobago)
1st round - 7:20 am CDT
4x100m Relay - Women
Veronica Campbell, Aleen Bailey, Simone Facey (Jamaica)
1st round - 7:55 am CDT
Friday, August 22
4x100m Relay - Women
Veronica Campbell, Aleen Bailey, Simone Facey (Jamaica)
Finals - 8:15 am CDT
4x100m Relay - Men
Tyson Gay (USA)
Aaron Armstrong (Trinidad &Tobago)
Finals - 9:10 am CDT
For full coverage of the 2008 Olympic Track and Field events, go to http://www.iaaf.org/OLY08/index.html
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