Rodman and Rose Earn Team USA Spots with Second Place Finishes at USATF U20 Championships

Virginia Results Scoreboard

(29-Jun) Eight (8) USATF Virginia members competed in the 2022 USATF U20 Outdoor Championships that concluded on Saturday (25-Jun) in Eugene, Oregon.  The championships were the qualifying event for next the upcoming World Athletics U20 Championships to be held in Cali, Columbia August 1-6. The top two athletes in each event who met the world championship entry standard qualified to represent Team USA at the world championships.

Two Virginians, Sam Rodman and Michaela Rose, qualified for the world championships while the Virginia athletes accumulated six (6) top-5 finishes.  

On Saturday, Samuel Rodman (Bealeton, VA; Princeton University) finished second in the men's 800m running 1:50.91 to earn his spot on Team USA. The race was extremely close as winner Miles Brown of Michigan was just .01 seconds ahead of Rodman.  Two weeks earlier Rodman, a freshman at Princeton, finished seventh in the NCAA Championships running 1:46.97; a Princeton school record.  

Also on Saturday, over the course of just 33 minutes, Michaela Rose (Suffolk, VA; F.I.A. Ambassador Lion) competed in both the 800m and 400m Hurdles finals.  The 800m started at 5:01 pm and Rose finished third running 2:06.71.  At 5:34pm she toed the line in the 400m Hurdles where she finished second running 58.30 to earn her Team USA spot for Columbia.  Earlier this year Rose ran career bests of 2:02.49 (800m) and 57.62 (400m Hurdles) while competing for LSU.  She is a two-time USATF Virginia athlete of the year.

In the men's 110m Hurdles Jayden Smith (Richmond, VA; Davidson College) finished third running 13.35 (+wind). He was just .01 behind the runner-up TJ MCaldwell who earned the final Team USA spot in the event.  In the first round heats Smith ran 13.33 to set a career best by .52 seconds.  It was the fastest time in the qualifying round.

Picking up fifth place finishes were Anthony Greenhow (Powhatan, VA; University of South Carolina) in the men's 200m and Madison Whyte (Newport News, VA) in the women's 400m. Both set personal bests -  Greenhow's (20.60) and White (53.38).

Other Virginia performances were:

• 6th Arianna DeBoer  5000m (Charlottesville; William & Mary) 17:03.87
• 9th Jordyn Henderson 100m Hurdles (Chester; James Madison Univ.) 13.95
• 13th Mirai Bernard 400m (Ashburn, VA; Unattached) 55.69
• 16th Mirai Bernard 200m (Ashburn, VA; Unattached) 24.17

The complete Virginia Results Scoreboard can be found here.