{"id":4577,"date":"2016-07-11T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/olympic-high-high-schoolers-move-on-in-200-meters\/"},"modified":"2016-07-11T08:00:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T15:00:34","slug":"olympic-high-high-schoolers-move-on-in-200-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/olympic-high-high-schoolers-move-on-in-200-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic High? High-schoolers move on in 200 meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

EUGENE, Ore. \u2014<\/strong> Those two high schoolers really can fly. So can that relative newcomer to the 200 meters, LaShawn Merritt.<\/p>\n

Be ready, Justin Gatlin, they\u2019ll be chasing you.<\/p>\n

A pair of 18-year-olds, Michael Norman and Noah Lyles, turned heads Friday after blistering performances in the semifinals at the U.S. Track and Field Trials. Norman won his heat over Gatlin. Lyles wasn\u2019t really challenged in his heat.<\/p>\n

Moments later, Merritt stole the show; the runner known more for the 400 turned in a 200 time of 19.74 seconds, the fastest mark in the world this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids, man, they\u2019re good,\u201d the 34-year-old Gatlin said. \u201cThey\u2019re good at what they do. They\u2019re strong. They\u2019re brave man.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot to compete against them like they\u2019re real competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, they\u2019re real all right. Maybe a little in awe and perhaps still a little green, but definitely real.<\/p>\n

After crossing the line in 20.21 seconds, Norman reached over and shook Gatlin\u2019s hand. He leaned in and said, \u201cDo you remember me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatlin sure did. They once hung out at a Nike Elite camp. Norman thought about bringing up their encounter before the race, but didn\u2019t want to interrupt the sprinter who figures to be the biggest threat to Usain Bolt at the Rio de Janeiro Games.<\/p>\n

Probably a wise move. Gatlin was all business.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re coming out to be giant killers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And Gatlin would be the giant in the final Saturday. Or perhaps it\u2019s Merritt, given the time he ran.<\/p>\n

\u201cCame off the curve with everybody, felt good so I made a move,\u201d said Merritt, who\u2019s dabbling in the 200 after already earning a spot by winning the 400. \u201cThe key was to win the race. That\u2019s what I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman is from Murrieta, California, and plans to go to Southern California this fall. Lyles hails from Alexandria, Virginia, and will attend Florida.<\/p>\n

They have a friendly rivalry on the junior circuit, with Norman beating out Lyles for the Gatorade Athlete of the Year award. But it was Lyles who beat Norman in the only 200 race in which they\u2019ve squared off \u2014 at USATF Junior National Championships in 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pretty close. We talk to each other all the time,\u201d Norman said.<\/p>\n

Feed off each other, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch them in the call room, they look at each other, and you can tell they\u2019re like, \u2018We got this,\u2019\u201d Gatlin said. \u201cI\u2019m going to rise to the occasion when it\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anything one does, the other tries to do better.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaw him going and I thought, \u2018Oh, dang, he ran outside Gatlin. He just passed Gatlin,\u2019\u201d Lyles said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, I got to get out there.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mean to brag, but we\u2019re pretty extraordinary. We come out here and try to do our best, then try to show up for the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if they earn a spot on the 200. They are that talented.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to go to the Olympics \u2014 it\u2019s been a goal for four years and we\u2019re trying to make it happen,\u201d Lyles said.<\/p>\n

Of course, Gatlin will have something to say about it. He\u2019s already qualified in the 100, but hopes to earn a place in the 200, too. Merritt will be in the mix as well. He had the fastest 200 time coming in and has only gotten stronger despite running three rounds of the 400 earlier at trials.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust have to stay humble, stay grounded, get some rest and come out tomorrow and do it all over again,\u201d Merritt said.<\/p>\n

Merritt could be in line to try to become the first man to win a 200-400 Olympic double since Michael Johnson in 1996. But that\u2019s a decision for down the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to take it a race at a time,\u201d Merritt said.<\/p>\n

Flying under the radar are Ameer Webb and veteran Tyson Gay, who didn\u2019t make the team in the 100.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s two rounds down, one more to go,\u201d Lyles said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to make something cool happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EUGENE, Ore. \u2014 Those two high schoolers really can fly. So can that relative newcomer to the 200 meters, LaShawn Merritt. Be ready, Justin Gatlin, they\u2019ll be chasing you. A pair of 18-year-olds, Michael Norman and Noah Lyles, turned heads Friday after blistering performances in the semifinals at the U.S. Track and Field Trials. Norman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-4577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}