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Marquise Goodwin Punches Ticket To 2012 London Olympics

Updated: Sunday, June 24 2012, 09:32 PM CDT
Marquise Goodwin started strong and finished stronger, using a career-best mark of 8.33m (27-04.25) to win the long jump at the 2012 Olympic Trials and earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team on Sunday.

The Trials win comes on the heels of Goodwin’s victory at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 6, marking the second-straight meet he won by way of setting a personal record.  He is the first collegian to win both the Olympic Trials and NCAA long jump in the same year since 1960. 

Goodwin was at the top of the leaderboard for much of the day’s six rounds thanks to an 8.07m (26-5.75) jump on his first attempt.  The mark was unchallenged until the third round when he momentarily slipped into fourth after big jumps by William Claye, George Kitchens and Christian Taylor.  However, Goodwin was able to match Claye’s mark of 8.23m (27-00.00) to reclaim the top spot heading into their final three attempts. 

The standings held through the fourth, fifth and most of the final round so that Goodwin’s Olympic qualification was guaranteed heading into the final three jumps.  Claye leaped an 8.22m mark that was the second highest mark of the day after his and Goodwin’s matching 8.23m attempts, putting him ahead of Goodwin before the latter’s final attempt.  Goodwin then unleashed an 8.33m leap that put the exclamation point on an already impressive day.

“I started off pretty good and I ended even better, so it was a good day for me,” Goodwin said.  “Earlier on in the year, I couldn’t really get it going until the last few jumps.  Popping off a good jump with no scratch helped me relax and know that I can go out there and put out an even better jump.”

“To perform in front of 21,000 people on your last jump for the win at the Olympic Trials, I think that’s why we call him ‘Mr. Clutch,’” said Texas head coach Bubba Thornton.  “This wasn’t about yesterday, it wasn’t about tomorrow, it wasn’t really even about making the Olympic Team.  It was really about being the best he could be today, and as he achieved that, everything else just fell into place.”

Also competing for the Longhorns on Sunday was Jacob Thormaehlen in the finals of the shot put.  Thormaehlen’s mark of 19.76m (64-10.00) on his third attempt was good enough to earn him a spot in the final three rounds.  He matched that throw in his sixth and final attempt and placed seventh overall.

Thormaehlen will represent the U.S. at the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) U23 Championships in Guanajuato, Mexico, July 6-8.

“I’ve thrown 68, 69 meters in practice and I just wanted to pull one out so badly,” Thormaehlen said.  “I was just hitting away from it trying to hit it too fast. I wish I would have finished higher, maybe inside the top five, but I’ll get a chance to wear the red, white and blue in a couple weeks in Mexico, so I’m really excited about that.”

Rising sophomore and Oregon native Ryan Crouser will compete in the discus tomorrow before Tuesday and Wednesday’s athlete rest days.
Marquise Goodwin Punches Ticket To 2012 London Olympics