True Finishes Fourth, Harris & Schneider Advance


 Cumberland, Maine native Ben True competed in the 10,000 meter track final on day one of the 2021 United States Olympic Trials at Hayward Field. True competing in his third Olympic Trials came into the meet as one of the top competitors in the event and was one of seven men in the field that  had locked down the Olympic qualifying standard of 27:28.

He ran like a savvy veteran staying near the back of the pack during the opening mile of 4:26.39 that placed him in twenty-second spot. True stayed in the same spot as the clocked showed 8:56.43 at 3200m. The third mile saw Ben move up to 16th as he came through 4800m I'm 13:25.74. The fourth mile there was plenty of movement as he continued to work his way up through field into tenth place coming through 6400m in 17:58.88. In mile five Ben gained three more spots up to seventh as the clocked showed 22:33.17 at 8000m. At the bell True had an Olympic burn within reach as he hit the bell in fifth place, the pace quicken down the backstretch as he moved to fourth place but he had to watch his Olympic dream fade as the top three pulled away. True covered his final lap in 58.63 to finish fourth overall in 27:58.88.


Woody Kincaid of the Bowerman Track Club took the win as he closed the final lap in a blistering 53.47 to finish with a time of  27:53.62. Teammate Grant Fisher finished second while Joe Klecker grabbed the final spot for Tokyo.

The fourth place finish for True is his best effort at an Olympic Trials. In 2016 he finished fifth in the 5000m race while he was sixth in 2012. At the 10,000m distance was 11th I'm 2016 and 12th in 2016. 

He'll have one final shot to make the team in the 5000m next week.

In the opening round of the Men's 800m Lewiston's Isaiah Harris posted a seasonal best effort of 1:45.25 to finish third in heat two. The time was the third fastest overall of the first round and advances Harris to Saturday's semi-finals. Isaiah ran a strong with very even paced splits of 25.56, 26.44 (52), 26.53 (1:18.52) and 26.73, he moved fro, fifth to third over the final 200m. Harris will be in the second semi-final race where the top three automatically advance to the final. 

Brunswick native Mitchell Black ran in heat one where he finished seventh in a time of 1:49.61. Black finished twenty-third overall and didn't advance.

Doning her new Hoka kit Sanford native Rachel Schneider advanced to the women's 5000m final via her second place finish in heat one. Schneider clocked the second fastest time of 15:23.45 in the qualifying heats. She is one of eight US woman who have the Olympic standard in the event.