SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In 2001, Watauga High graduate Brenda Taylor won the NCAA championship in the 400-meter hurdles. Three years later, Taylor is going to the Olympics. Taylor qualified for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games by finishing second in the 400-meter hurdles Sunday afternoon at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. Taylor, who runs for Nike, finished with a time of 53.36 seconds. “I stayed focused on my lane and got out relaxed for the first six hurdles,” said Taylor on the U.S. Track and Field Web site. “I knew there were four people in this race ready to break the Olympic Trials’ record just to make the team.” Sheena Johnson, who also runs for Nike, won the event with a time of 52.95. Lashinda Demus of South Carolina was third with a 53.43. Sandra Glover, who held the stadium record until Johnson captured it on Sunday, was fourth with a 53.64. |
"The plan was to go out fast to first 200 then at the eighth hurdle it was all out,” said Johnson, also on the U.S. Track and Field Web site. “I knew we'd all have to run a P.R. to make the team. It's great that we're also all so young. I dreamed of making the team ever since high school. To actually do it is really special.”
Taylor reached the finals by finishing second in her heat behind Demus in the semifinals on Saturday with a time of 54.83. It was the fourth fastest qualifying time of the day.
“(Saturday) was all about making the finals,” said Taylor. “It’s really important to come in the top two of your heat because that assures you of a middle lane for the finals.”
Running well in big meets is nothing new to Taylor, a Harvard graduate who won the 2001 NCAA championships with a time of 55.88, a personal best at the time. Taylor then lowered her time to 55.46 in a meet at Zagreb, Croatia and finished third in at the U.S. Outdoors championships.
In 2003, Taylor won meets in Lucerne, France (55.34), at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays (55.38) and was third at the U.S. Outdoor championships (55.60).
She also graduated from Harvard with a degrees in psychology and biology. She owns 19 Harvard records. She is the second Watauga graduate to qualify for the Olympics. In 2000, Abraham Morlu qualified for the Liberian team in the 400-meter relay.