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Track and Field
at TCU Alumni Invitational
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Blackwood Advances to Olympic Final in the 400
August 21, 2004 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. -- Former Sooner sprinter Michael Blackwood advanced to the final in the 400-meter dash Saturday during competition in the Games of the 28th Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
Blackwood, competing for Jamaica, finished second in his heat with a 45.00. Jeremy Wariner, competing for the United States, won the heat with the fastest time posted in semifinal action with a 44.87. Blackwood's time was the fourth best in semifinal action.
The top two finishers in each of three heats plus the next two fastest times advanced to the final which is scheduled for Monday at 9:05 p.m. Athens time.
Brandon Simpson of Jamaica had the second best time with a 44.97 while Otis Harris of the US had the third best time with a 44.08. Three runners from the U.S. and three from Jamaica will compete in the final along with a runner from France and another from Grenada.
Blackwood owns the school record at OU in the 400 with a 44.69, a time he recorded in 2000 while winning the Big 12 title. He won the 2002 and 2003 Jamaican Senior National title in the 400 and finished second this year to Simpson. His personal best in the 400 is 44.60.
Blackwood earned a bronze as a member of the 1600-meter relay in the Olympics in Sydney in 2000. Two years later, he won the 400 title in the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup. He was the top-ranked 400 meter runner in the world in 2002.
Two more former Sooner sprinters are scheduled to compete on Monday as well. Laverne Jones, who advanced to the quarterfinals in the 100 on Friday, will open competition in the 200 on Monday morning. Jones is competing for the Virgin Islands. She earned NCAA All-America honors six times while competing for the Sooners and is the school record holder in the indoor 60, indoor 200, outdoor 100 and outdoor 200.
Danny McFarlane, the two-time Jamaican national senior champion in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles, will begin his Olympic competition Monday night. McFarlane finished eighth in the 400-meter dash at the 2000 Olympics and earned a bronze medal as a member of the 1600-meter relay. He made the switch from the sprint to the hurdle after the Sydney games. McFarlane won the 2003 Jamaican national title in the hurdles with a 48.95 and repeated this year with a 48.95. His personal best in the hurdles is 48.65. McFarlane was an eight-time NCAA All-American for the Sooners. His OU career ended in 1997.
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