Fred Kerley And Melissa Jefferson Win 100s; Ryan Crouser, Sandi Morris, Valarie Allman, Vashti Cunningham, Rayvon Gray Win Field Events On Busy Night

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE, Ore. – Fred Kerley has arrived as perhaps the world's fastest man. 

The Olympic silver medalist in the 100 meters, who has worked to shed the idea that his best events might actually be the 200 and 400, proved to everybody watching that he is a gold-medal contender this summer. 

Kerley, who stands 6 feet 3, used sheer strength and speed to pull away in his semifinal heat in 9.76 seconds at the Toyota USATF Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field – moving into a tie for the third-fastest man U.S. history and sixth-fastest of all-time. 

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Then he returned to the track and did it again in the final, pulling away late to take the win in 9.77 seconds. Both races were wind-legal. 

He rounded the curve past the finish line and allowed himself a rare show of satisfaction at his accomplishment. 

"I put the work in. That's what I got," Kerley said. "The speed comes in at the right time. When everybody's dying, I'm just passing."

Kerley could get a Olympics final rematch with Italy's Marcell Jacobs next month at the World Championships. 

Nobody has ever run times like Kerley ran twice on the same day before. 

He is entered in the 200 meters Saturday and will bring the same focus and determination. 

"My mindset is, don't let anyone take food off my table," he said. 

Christian Coleman, who scratched out of the final after running two rounds, has a wild card to the World Athletics Championships next month and was not obligated to race. 

Marvin Bracy-Williams finished second in 9.85 seconds to match his personal best and Trayvon Bromell was third in 9.88. 

Oregon sophomore Micah Williams took fourth, just .001 seconds ahead of Elijah Hall-Thompson, in 9.90, and is eligible for the relay pool. 

In the women's 100 meters, Coastal Carolina junior Melissa Jefferson made a stunning debut at her first U.S. championships and won the title in 10.69w. 

Ryan Crouser responded to a big first-round throw by Joe Kovacs (75-0.75/22.87m) by switching from a static throw to a full throw and threw 75-10.25 (23.12m) in the third round. Crouser topped 23 meters on his third, fourth and fifth attempts and threw 22.98m on his sixth for one of the best series of marks in history. 

"Without Joe throwing that far early, I probably wouldn't have thrown as far as I did," Crouser said. "And I'm really excited going forward because the consistency is there, but I was consistently missing those (bigger throws) just a little bit."

In a dramatic women's pole vault competition, Olympic champion Katie Nageotte and two-time World Outdoor Championships silver medalist Sandi Morris both needed third attempt clearances at 15-1 (4.60m) to avoid the possibility of missing out on a national team berth. 

Both made those crucial third attemps and flipped the script on early leader Gabriela Leon, the NCAA Division 1 champion from Louisville, who was clean through 4.60m but missed all three tries at 15-3 (4.65m).

Alina McDonald of KMR Athletics placed second by clearing a personal-best 15-3.

Vashti Cunningham won her fifth consecutive U.S. outdoor title and 11th career championship by clearing 6-4 (1.93m). 

The two-time Olympian had a first-attempt miss at 6-2.75 (1.90m) that momentarily left her tied with Rachel Glenn and Rachel McCoy. 

But she rectified it when she soared over 6-4 and the other two missed three times at that height. 

In the women's discus, Olympic champion Valarie Allman felt she had an "off night," and yet still won the U.S. title by eight feet, at 219-7 (66.92m). 

The bigger news was former Iowa star Laulauga Tausaga-Collins throwing a personal best 211-7 (64.49m) in the fourth round to take second. Rachel Dincoff, the third American with the World standard, took third with 203-10 (62.14m). 

Rayvon Grey, ranked 65th in the World Athletics rankings, scored a huge victory in the men's long jump with a best mark of 26-10.50 (8.19m) for a new personal best. He was 13th at the Olympic Trials last year. Meanwhile, Oympians Marquis Dendy and JuVaughn Harrison failed to make the finals. 

Steffin McCarter finished second with 26-9 (8.15m) and Florida State's Jeremiah Davis was third with 26-7.25 (8.11m).

Elsewhere on the track, the racing went mostly to form. Michael Norman and Talitha Diggs ran the fastest times in the 400-meter semifinals. The ageless Allyson Felix, in her 19th USATF Championships, advanced to the final of the 400 meters with the seventh spot out of eight. 

Sydney McLaughlin and Rai Benjamin both eased into their respective 400-meter hurdles finals. 

Athing Mu, Ajee' Wilson and Raevyn Rogers all made it safely to the women's 800 meters final. Challengers Sage Hurta (1:58.30) and Olivia Baker (1:58.46) both ran personal bests and will join them. 

Brandon Miller, Bryce Hoppel and Clayton Murphy were the top three qualifiers to the men's 800 final. High school standout Cade Flatt gave another big effort, but missed the final by .07 seconds when he took fourth in the first semifinal in 1:47.00. 

Courtney Frerichs and Emma Coburn were the semifinal winners in the women's steeplechase. NCAA champion Courtney Wayment, making her pro debut for On Athletics, ran an easy 9:41.64 to follow Coburn over the finish line. 

Alaysha Johnson, a former Oregon Duck, raced at Hayward Field for the first time since 2018 and ran the fastest first-round time in the 100-meter hurdles, clocking 12.41 seconds.