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Ballou Grad Enjoys Her Day in the Sun

Lynda Tolbert-Goode has been hurdling in the shadow of world champion Gail Devers her entire career. But today, as Devers stumbled and hit the fourth hurdle at Olympic Stadium in the 100-meter hurdles semifinal, the Ballou High School graduate saw her chance to steal the race.

"I won the heat so I'm very happy," said Tolbert-Goode, who ran 12.74 seconds, the fastest semifinal time. "I want to do the same thing tomorrow. Winning tomorrow would be the icing on the cake. It helps to run next to someone [like Devers]. It helps to motivate me. For me, the semis are like the finals."

Devers recovered from her mistake to finish third in the semifinal and qualify for the final.

"There's nothing to say except I plan to be on that team at the conclusion of the final tomorrow," she said. Devers finished second in the 100-meter dash last weekend.

Meanwhile, Gwen Torrence, who has been known in the past to complain about injuries, won her quarterfinal heat of the women's 200 in 22.53 after sounding off about a thigh injury Friday night. She finished second to Dannette Young in the semifinal. Young ran 22.31; Torrence, 22.35.

"I can't complain," Torrence said. "I'm in the final. I just need to be in the top three. Everybody's running with some nicks and knacks. I'm going to give it all I have because it's the Olympic qualifying finals."

Kisha Jett, who runs for Florida and went to Hammond High in Columbia, qualified for the 200 final with a fourth-place finish in her semifinal in 22.94.

Stanley-Boutte in Position

In the women's 100 hurdles, Tananjalyn Stanley-Boutte, former NCAA champion from Louisiana State and wife of Washington Redskins defensive tackle Mark Boutte, ran 12.84 in the quarters, then finished fourth in 13.04 seconds in her semifinal, earning the final spot by .04 seconds for Sunday's final.

Walking on Air

The two race walk events, made all the more grueling by the extreme heat in Atlanta, were won by veteran Duke graduate Curt Clausen and two-time Olympian Debbi Lawrence.

In the men's 20-kilometer race, Clausen won in 1 hour 29 minutes 50 seconds, with Alexandria's Phillip Dunn coming in sixth in 1:32:33. Dunn, 25, was with the leaders for the first three kilometers, then took the lead in a pack with three others. But just past the halfway mark, Dunn dropped back, and Clausen, Tim Seaman and three-time Olympian Gary Morgan went on to earn the three Olympic spots.

In the women's 10-kilometer race, Lawrence won in 46:05.