USA Track & Field – News – Youth sprinter Noah Lyles wins USATF Athlete of the Week

INDIANAPOLIS — Youth sprinter Noah Lyles (Alexandria, Va.) earns USA Track & Field Athlete of the Week on the strength of his 200-meter title at the U.S. Area Youth Selection Trials – Track & Field in Miramar, Fla., April 5.

The 16-year-old T.C. Williams High School sophomore was the only sprinter to record two sub-21 second races with his finals time of 20.89 setting an early-season national youth standard. Lyles took advantage of a perfect running day in Florida, benefitting from mild temperatures and accommodating tailwinds en route to a dominant performance.
 
The win put Lyles in promising position to earn a spot on the Americas Team, heading to the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, Aug. 16-28.  U.S. athletes may be nominated after the event in Miramar and may only compete in the U.S. event. Nominations for the Americas Youth Olympic Team are determined following the third and final trials event to be held in the Carribean and South America, and the team will be named in late June.
 
While Lyles takes home AOW honors, there were several other exceptional track & field performances across the country this week. Janet Bawcom (Rome, Ga.) broke her own American 10 mile record with a time of 52:12 at the USA 10 Mile Championships, distancing herself from the pack early on the way to her fourth consecutive USA 10 Mile Championship. University of Florida sprinter Dedric Dukes (Miami, Fla.) pulled off an impressive double at the Florida Relays as a college junior. Dukes ran a world-leading 19.97 200m, then returned to the track the next day to help his 4x400m relay team run a 2:59.73 race, the second-fastest collegiate 4×400 of all-time. Joanna Atkins (Stone Mountain, Ga.) also turned in a stellar performance at Florida Relays, setting personal bests and world-leading marks en route to winning both the 100m (11.09) and 200m (22.27).

2014 Winners: January 15, Chris Derrick; January 22, Galen Rupp; January 29, Galen Rupp; February 5, Alexa Efraimson; February 12, Mike Rutt; Feb. 19, Bernard Lagat; Feb. 26, Sharon Day-Monroe; March 3, David Torrence; March 13, Francena McCorory; March 19, Irene Obera; March 26, Duane Solomon; April 2, Maria Michta; April 7, Noah Lyles.

About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the country’s No. 1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org.

USA Track & Field – News