Cal Track and Field: Inika McPherson Advances to Sunday's High Jump Final at U.S. Trials
Inika McPherson's bid for a second trip to the Olympic Games got off to a good start Friday when she qualified for Sunday's high jump final at the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
McPherson, a 34-year-old 2009 graduate of Cal, was among 12 athletes who cleared 1,87 meters or 6 foot, 1 1/2 inches. At that point, officials ended the day and sent all 12 onto the final.
The top three finishers on Sunday will qualify for the Tokyo Games next month.
McPherson, who finished 10th at the 2016 Rio Olympics, passed on taking any attempts at 1.77 meters or 5-9 3/4, then scaled 1.82 or 5-11 1/2 on her first try.
She missed on her first try at 1.87 or 6-1 1/2 before making it on her next attempt.
Seven jumpers advance without a miss, including world leader Vashti Cunningham, the daughter of former NFL star quarterback Randall Cunningham. She took just one jump Friday.
Two other top Olympic hopefuls -- Rachel McCoy and NCAA champion Rachel Glenn -- both advanced but Jelena Rowe, who has a season best of 6-5, missed all three tries at 5-11 1/2 and was sidelined with a no-height.
Also on Friday, Cal volunteer assistant coach Tianna Bartoletta -- the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the long jump and twice a winner at the Games in the 4x100 relay -- opened with a time of 11.27 seconds in the 100-meter dash heats, The 35-year-old finished third in her heat to advance to Saturday's semifinals.
Day 1 of the track trials was highlighted by Ryan Crouser's world-record effort in the men's shot put. The 28-year-old threw 76 feet, 8 1/4 inches to shatter the 31-year-old record of 75-10 1/4 by Randy Barnes.
Camryn Rogers a semifinalist for The Bowerman
Cal junior Camryn Rogers received one of the biggest honors of her blossoming track and field career this week when she was named one of 10 national semifinalists for The Bowerman.
The award is essentially the Heisman Trophy of college track and field, and Rogers is the first Cal athlete — male or female — to be considered for the honor.
The 22-year-old native of British Columbia, regarded as a virtual lock to represent Canada at the Tokyo Olympics, defended her 2019 NCAA title in the hammer throw two weeks ago at Oregon’s Hayward Field.
Camryn Rogers at Hayward Field
She twice broke the collegiate record in the meet, and any of her five fair throws would have won the competition. Rogers’ final throw of the day went 75.52 meters or 247 feet, 9 inches to eclipse her earlier record throw.
Rogers was undefeated this season and now has four of the 10 farthest throws in college history.
The Bowerman finalists will be announced in coming weeks and the winners will be announced December 16 as part of the USTFCCCA Convention in Orlando, Florida.
The 10 semifinalists include two other Pac-12 athletes — USC sprinter/hurdler Anna Cockrell and Arizona State discus thrower Jorinde van Klinken.
Among 10 nominees for the men’s award are distance runners Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare of Oregon and Arizona State’s Turner Washington, winner of the shot and discus at the NCAA meet.
Cover photo of Inika McPherson by USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo