Oliver, Anderson, Huling & Williams win in Glasgow
David Oliver
U.S. stars David Oliver, Alexandria Anderson, Dan Huling and Jesse Williams were all victorious in their respective events Saturday at the 2011 Five Nations Match in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Five Nations Match features one athlete per event in a unique country vs. country format that showcases competitors from different nations battling against each other to earn points towards their teams overall match total. Germany won the team event with 61 points, followed by Great Britain & N. Ireland (2nd – 56 points), Commonwealth Select (3rd – 56 points), Team USA (4th – 52 points) and Sweden (5th – 29 points).
In winning the men’s 60m hurdles, David Oliver showed no signs of slowing down from his remarkable 2010 season, which ended with him being ranked #1 in the world in the 110m hurdles by Track & Field News for the first time in his career.
Oliver, who last year became the #3 performer all-time in his event and won the Jesse Owens Award as America’s finest male athlete, posted his fastest time ever for an indoor season opener when he stopped the clocks in 7.51 seconds, which currently sits atop the world list. European champion Andy Turner of Great Britain was the runner-up in 7.66.
Elsewhere on the main straightaway, 2009 NCAA Outdoor 100m champion Alexandria Anderson had a rough start in the women’s 60-meters before emerging victorious in 7.31 seconds. Great Britain’s Jeanette Kwakye was the runner-up in 7.40, with Germany’s Leena Gunther third in 7.46.
Reigning U.S. 3,000m steeplechase champion Dan Huling was a convincing winner in the men’s 3,000 meters in a personal best time of 7 minutes 56.68 seconds, with the Commonwealth Select team’s Sammy Mutahi of Kenya the runner-up in 7:59.01. Germany’s Steffen Uliczka finished third in 7:59.91.
In field event action, 2010 USA Indoor champion and 2008 Olympian Jesse Williams won the men’s high jump with a best clearance of 2.28m/7-5.75, which equals the second-best performance by an American this indoor season by the University of Mississippi’s Ricky Robertson in Jonesboro, Ark., on January 22.
