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| SportsSunday, August 26, 2007 11:53 PM CDT |
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BHS alum Wurth-Thomas ready to take on the world
BLOOMINGTON — Bloomington-native Christin Wurth-Thomas competes this week in the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in Osaka, Japan, hoping to gain experience she can use in the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. The 27-year-old resident of Springdale, Ark., competes in the 1,500-meter preliminaries Aug. 29. The 24-woman semifinals are Aug. 31 and the 12-woman final Sept. 2. “My main goal in this World Championships is to make the final and then see what I can do there,” Wurth-Thomas said via e-mail from Osaka. “However, I have to run each race like it could be my last, so I will definitely be focusing on each round as I get to it. “I need to get used to going through the rounds at this level for next year. So hopefully this is kind of a dress rehearsal. I think this is a vital learning experience for next year. It allows me to compete with the best in the world, which is exciting.” Wurth-Thomas, this year’s USATF national runner-up, has a season best of 4 minutes, 7.86 seconds, which ranks seventh among Americans and 45th in the world. The 2003 University of Arkansas alum, a three-time Illinois state high school champion in the 800, set her personal best of 4:05.00 last season. She believes she is ready to lower her season best. “It was really, really hot (over 100 degrees) in Arkansas the last two weeks so it made working out kind of tough,” she said. “However, it also did a fantastic job of preparing me for the weather here in Osaka. “We have been working on some race strategies in practice to prepare me for any kind of race that might be thrown my way. I know that prelims usually go pretty slow and then kick, so we have been getting ready for that and I feel totally confident that I am ready.” The 50,000-seat Nagai Stadium crowd will include Wurth-Thomas’ parents, Mike and Judy, her husband, Patrick, along with her aunt and uncle, Susan and Mike Callahan of Bloomington. “The wonderful thing is that I have a great fan base,” said Wurth-Thomas, who is coached by 1992 U.S. Olympic team assistant coach Lance Harter. “He kind of knows the process and can help me get ready to go. He has shared some important things with me already.” Wurth-Thomas arrived in Osaka on Aug. 19. “When we were at the training base we would work out at a university and it was really cute because Japanese kids and fans would come out and cheer you on and want high fives,” she said. “It was really nice to see so much positive excitement.” Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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Barb and Joe wrote on Aug 25, 2007 9:28 PM:
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