Laura Gerraughty (North Carolina) claimed the bronze medal in the women’s shot put on day five of the IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. Gerraughty avenged her fourth place finish at the 2000 World Junior Championships when she threw 16.62 meters/54 feet, 6.5 inches on her third attempt. Teammate Briona Reynolds (UCLA) finished 12th in the finals with a mark of 14.86m/48-9.

Team USA stepped onto the track to run the semi finals in both the 4x100 and 4x400m relays. Leading the way were the men’s 4x100 and 4x400m relay squads, both running world junior leading times to win their heats. The 4x100m relay team of Ashton Collins (Clark (LA) HS), Wes Felix (Southern California), Ivory Williams (Central (TX) HS) and Willie Hordge (Forest Brook (TX) HS) clocked a time of 39.18 in heat two, edging the team from Brazil. Kenneth Ferguson (Mumford (MI) HS), Darold Williamson (Baylor), Bershawn Jackson (Central (FL) HS) and Jon Fortenberry (South Carolina) made up 4x400m team that ran a world junior leading time of 3:03.56. The foursome held off a late surge by host Jamaica to win their heat.

For the ladies, the 4x100m team was comprised of Lauryn Williams (Miami), Allyson Felix (LA Baptist (CA) HS), Mashevet Hooker (Southwest (TX) HS) and Shalonda Solomon (Long Beach Poly (CA) HS). The foursome ran 43.92 to easily win their heat and advance to the final. In the 4x400m, Christina Hardeman (Wilcox (CA) HS), Monique Henderson (UCLA), Sanya Richards (St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) HS) and Lashinda Demus (South Carolina) easily advanced to Sunday’s final with a time of 3:35.84. In an anxious moment during the women’s 4x400m, 2-time World Junior medalist Sanya Richards, running the third leg, tripped over the railing after successfully handing off to anchor Lashinda Demus. Richards was taken off the track on a stretcher to be evaluated. Initial reports were a sprain to her right ankle. She will be observed by Team USA medical staff overnight and will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

Also on the track on Saturday were the semis of the sprint hurdles for men and women. Antwon Hicks (Mississippi) and Kenneth Ferguson (South Carolina) both won their heats to advance to Sunday’s final. Hicks clocked a personal best time of 13.59 to led all runners in the semis. Ferguson, the 2002 World Juniors 400H silver medalist, ran 14.01 to advance to the finals and became only the third athlete in World Junior history to qualify for the finals in both the short and long hurdles. Ashlee Williams (Bishop Dunne (TX) HS) won her heat in the women’s 100H to advance to the finals, running 13.44 in heat two. In the first heat of the 100H, Tiffany Ross (South Carolina), suffering from a nagging hamstring injury, finished 4th (13.78) and did not advance to the finals.

In other finals on Saturday, Rafeeq Curry (Miami, FL) fouled on all three attempts in the men’s triple jump and did not record a mark. In the women’s heptathlon, twins Julie and Diana Pickler (Rowlett (TX) HS) finished 12th and 15th respectively. Julie accumlimated 5,097 points, while Diana racked up 4,539 for the two-day event.

With 16 total medals after five days of competition, including Gerraughty’s bronze medal on Saturday, Team USA tops the medal count and leads the point standings. Team USA is just one medal shy of tying the best ever medal count at a World Junior Championships for Team USA. The U.S. record 17 medals were won at the 1994 World Junior Championships in Lisbon, Portugal. Sunday’s finals will see men’s 100H (Hicks and Ferguson), women’s 110H (A. Williams), men’s 1500m (Lukezic), women’s 5000m (Zinn and Zeigle) and all four relay events.

For all the latest news on the 2002 IAAF World Junior Track & Field Championships, including quotes from the athletes, visit the USATF Web site at www.usatf.org. For complete results from the World Junior Championships, visit www.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/Byevent.html.