Tolkiens Welt » Gurinder Singh (13) and 30 for the last wicket with

EUGENE, Ore. -- The defending Olympic pole vault champion warmed up, then cooled down, then ran through the whole process again, as the driving rain pelted the field Friday at U.S. Olympic Trials.The more time you have to think, the more youre like, `Wow. This is how bad things happen, Jenn Suhr said.Suhr escaped the badness. Several other big-name athletes werent as lucky on a rain-drenched afternoon at Hayward Field.On a day that saw LaShawn Merritt lower his world-best mark at 200 meters to 19.74 seconds -- in a semifinal heat, no less -- and two high-school kids, Michael Norman and Noah Lyles, earn spots in the final, there was just as much buzz about those whose chances got washed away in the rain.First among them was hurdler Dawn Harper-Nelson, whose run at a third Olympic medal came to a stunning halt in 100-meter semifinals, when she finished third -- not good enough to make the eight-woman final.Tears are going to come, she said. Right now, Im just in shock.Later, after the rain had stopped but the track was still slick, American record-holder Keni Harrison stumbled to a sixth-place finish and a spot on the couch next month. Brianna Rollins, the 2013 worlds gold medalist, won in 12.34 seconds, a comfortable .16 ahead of Kristi Castlin, who was considered a bigger threat four years ago at trials.Harrison was supposed to be the woman to beat this year.It happened so fast, she said, clearly holding back tears. Ill have to watch film. Its unfortunate, because my season was going so well. But this stuff happens.It also happened to Shamier Little. The worlds silver medalist in 400-meter hurdles didnt make it out of her semifinal heat.Allyson Felix took to the track well before the rain hit, and coasted through her 200-meter qualifying heat in 22.93 seconds. It was her first race in nearly a year at her favorite distance. She said nothings really changed with her aching right ankle, despite four days of rest.Just trying to see how it does on the curve, and all that, she said, as she moved ahead in her quest for the 200-400 double at the Rio Games.Shortly after Felixs race, the sky opened, and everybodys outlook changed. The discus and pole vault competitions were delayed. The 100-meter hurdle semifinals turned into even more of an adventure than usual.I couldnt see through my race, said Nia Ali, who got safely through the semifinal, then finished third in the final, too, to make the Olympics.Suhr, whose gold medal in London came in a windy rainstorm, only needed one jump to qualify for the final.Im thankful to make it, because you never take it for granted, she said.Also waiting out the rain was Tavis Bailey, who finished second in discus finals -- one of the most competitive contests on the card.When raindrops are hitting the discus in your hand, that will get to you, said Bailey, who finished behind Mason Finley.Not so fortunate was defending national champion Jared Schuurmans, who finished fifth.Others with decent chances who didnt make the team included high jumpers Jesse Williams, the 2011 world champion, and Randall Cunningham, who was hoping to join his sister, Vashti, on the trip to Brazil.When you landed on the mat, you landed in puddles, said Cunningham, who does the bulk of his training in bone-dry Las Vegas. Your whole body was soaked.Such is life in track and field -- and everything is amplified in the no-excuses world of U.S. Olympic qualifying, where the top three finishers make it and no exceptions are made for injuries, past performances -- or weather.Nobody felt worse than Harper-Nelson, who burst onto the scene eight years ago at the Birds Nest in Beijing, crossing the line first after her more-ballyhooed teammate, Lolo Jones, tripped on the second-to-last barrier. That day, Harper-Nelson crossed the line and could be seen mouthing the words What? What?She was every bit as dumbfounded by this finish.Complete disbelief, she called it. Ive never been in a position where someone is pulling away and I wasnt able to react.Other happenings on Day 7 of track trials:HURDLES WIN: Rollins stepped ever so slightly into an adjacent lane late in the 100-meter hurdles race but didnt impede fourth-place finisher Queen Harrison, so there was no protest, and no change in the results.SPRINT FAREWELL: Lost in the buzz over the high-schoolers making the 200-meter final was the fact that three longtime mainstays of the U.S. sprint team -- Mike Rodgers, Wallace Spearmon and Walter Dix -- all failed to advance. On the womens side, Jenna Prandini had the best 200 time, at 22.72 seconds.JAGR MASTERY: Evan Jager won the mens steeplechase in 8:22.48. Hell be joined in Rio by Hillary Bor and Donn Cabral.ARIES ADVANCES: Defending Olympic champion Aries Merritt, less than a year removed from a kidney transplant, made it through his qualifying heat in 110-meter hurdles. Also making it were 2008 bronze medalist David Oliver and 2012 silver medalist Jason Richardson.QUOTABLE: Dont mean to brag, but were pretty extraordinary, Lyles, after he and fellow 18-year-old Norman won their heats in the 200-meter semifinals. Nike Air Force 1 Low Γυναικεια .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Nike Air Force 1 Ανδρικα . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. http://www.airforce1greece.com/air-force-1-low-greece.html . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. Nike Air Force Καλυτερη Τιμη . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Nike Air Force Ανδρικα .Y. -- Marcell Dareus and the Buffalo Bills defence made life miserable for Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco. Bhavin Thakkar and Rohan Prem scored centuries as Kerala ended the first day on 290 for 2 against Goa at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.Goas decision to bowl first might have felt justified when opener Vishnu Vinod was removed in the seventh over with the score on 12. But their bowlers had no success for the next 70 overs, as Thakkar and Prem put on 234 for the second wicket. Thakkar scored 117 off 200 balls, with 14 boundaries, before he was bowled by Shadab Jakati.Prem then took his team to stumps unbeaten on 120 - his fourth consecutive score above 60 - with Sanju Samson at the other end on 28.Nineties from Nitin Saini and Rajat Paliwal helped Haryana reach 295 for 5 at stumps against Jammu & Kashmir in Cuttack.J&K captain Parvez Rasool elected to field and took two early wickets in a first session where three fell. But opener Nitin Saini followed up an unbeaten 152 in his last innings with a 90 in this match, while putting on 94 for the fourth wicket with Paliwal. After his dismissal, Paliwal joined hands with Rohit Sharma (51), and the pair put on 109 for the fifth wicket, before Rasool removed Sharma off the last ball of the day. Paliwal was unbeaten on 99.Half-centuries from B Sandeep (83*) and Mehdi Hasan (61) helped Hyderabad overcome a middle-order collapse to end the day on 303 for 7 against Services at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai.A 105-run second-wicket stand between Akshath Reddy (64) and B Anirudh (49) had taken Hyderabad to 136 for 1 before a spell from medium-pacer Raushan Raj saw them lose 5 wickets between the 47th and 51st overs, to be reduced to 141 for 6. Raushan took four of those wickets, while Services captain Anshul Gupta accounted for his counterppart S Badrinath with a run-out.ddddddddddddBut the effects of this collapse were negated when Sandeep and Hasan put on 135 for a seventh-wicket stand that took them into the final session without further damage, till Hasan was run out in the 80th over.Andhras opening bowlers took seven wickets between them as Tripura were bowled out for 171 on the first day in Valsad.DP Vijaykumar (4-56) and CV Stephen (3-47) struck regularly after Andhra had elected to field, taking seven of the first eight wickets, to leave Tripura struggling at 107 for 8.Nine Tripura batsmen got into double figures, but the top scorer was Bunti Roy, who came in at No. 10 and put 34 for the ninth wicket with Gurinder Singh (13) and 30 for the last wicket with Rajib Dutta (16*), before he was the last one dismissed for 34.Andhra lost KS Bharat early in their response, but DB Prasanth (19*) and Hanuma Vihari (18*) took them to stumps on 47 for 1.Chhattisgarh lost quick wickets on either side of two half-century stands, to finish the day on 212 for 7 against Himachal Pradesh in Kanpur.Left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma, who took over the captaincy from Rishi Dhawan, was responsible for the second of those collapses. He took the last three wickets to fall on the day, including that of top-scorer Amandeep Khare (85) who had put on 51 for the fourth wicket with Ashutosh Singh (16) and 76 for the fifth with Avnish Dhaliwal (39) to lift Chhattisgarh out of trouble at 39 for 3. Bipul removed Dhaliwal shortly after, and bowled wicketkeeper Manoj Singh (21) in the 88th over to finish with 3 for 37. ' ' '