|
Nate
Brannen lines up for the second 800m semi-final.
|
BYU
junior Chad Simkins.
|
Missouri
senior Timothy Dunne.
|
Brannen
at the start.
|
Wisconsin
sophomore Dan Murray leads on the first lap.
|
|
R-L:
Murray, Jackson Langat, Sam Burley, Jean Balan and
Chris Burns.
|
Sam
Burley and Nate Brannen both looked good in the first
round, and continued looking good here.
|
Burley,
a senior, was looking for his first national title
after finishing second here in 2002.
|
R-L:
Burley, Brannen, Balan, Burns and Dunne.
|
Burley,
who usually runs from the back, leads with a lap to
go.
|
|
Down
the homestretch, it was a close battle among Burley,
Brannen and Langat.
|
Brannen
(1:47.28), Burley (1:47.46) and Langat (1:47.64) all
advanced automatically.
|
No
other runners advanced from this heat. Dunne finished
4th (1:48.18) and Balan 5th (1:48.54).
|
Just
.68 of a second separated all of the finals qualifiers.
|
It
looked like the final would likely be a battle among
Jonathan Johnson, Burley and Brannen.
|
|
BYU's
Simkins finished 6th in 1:48.74.
|
Brannen
congratulates Langat.
|
Langat
originally hails from Nairobi, Kenya.
|
Dan
Murray (7th, 1:48.79) with Burley and Simkins.
|
John
Jefferson enters the track for the 1,500m semi-finals.
|
