Gwangju, South Korea -July 8th, 2015 – The track and field team representing the United States at the World University Games (WUG) opened up competition today with several qualifying marks that will be advancing on to the next round of competition.

After arriving to the country five days prior to adjust to the time change and weather, the US team was finally able to start its quest for gold.

Competition started with freshman Steele Wasik who completed day one of the decathlon and is sitting in 5th place after completing 5 events with a score of 3122 he is 165 points out of first place.  He posted some impressive marks in many events including the high jump (2.04m) and shot put (13.13m).  Wasik continues competition tomorrow kicking things off at 9:00am local time in the 110m Hurdles.

Also competing this morning was Alexandra Wasik, she cleared the bar at 3.85m in the pole vault but will not be advancing on in the competition.  Rounding out the field events for the morning session was Derek Eager who finished with a best throw of 64.88m in the javelin and Matt O’Neil in the triple jump who advances to the next round.

On the track there were several qualifiers that will be advancing.  From the morning session, Maddie Kopp and Cole Lambourne cruised to the next round of the 400m which will be held in the afternoon on July 9th.

In the short sprints, Ronnie Baker and Markesh Woodson went through two rounds today in the 100m dash to advance to a semifinal and final round that will take place in the afternoon session on July 9th.  Semi’s will go off at 5:00pm local time while the finals will be at 6:45pm.

Keyunta Hayes cruised his way into the next round of the 400m hurdles with a time of 51.61while Alissa Martinez took one of the last qualifying spots in the semi’s of the women’s 800m with a time of 2:05.78

Putting up a great fight but unfortunately not moving on were Kimberly Mackay in the 800m with a time of 2:10.70 and Austin O’Neil in the 1500m with a time of 3:56.52.

For the afternoon field events, three athletes threw and jumped their way forward and one step closer to victory. Kylie Price and Nataliyah Friar advanced in the women’s long jump with marks of 6.19m and 6.29m respectively while Valarie Allman threw a mark of 53.14m in the women’s disc to advance.

High Jumper Cody Crampton put up a valiant effort by clearing 2.10m on his second attempt but was not able to make the next bar of 2.15m and therefore will not be advancing to the next round.  The night ended on the field with freshmen Braheme Days in men’s shot put posting a mark of 18.40m on his first attempt.  He finished in 10th place.

For the most up to date info and heat sheets and live coverage make sure to check http://www.gwangju2015.com/sports/athletics/