Track Notebook: Mandell Preps for Olympics, Bassett Shines, Recruit Impresses
Former Pilot distance runner
Derek Mandell (Class of 2008) will represent Guam at the 2012 London Olympics in the 800-meter run. Mandell, who also competed in the
2008 Beijing Olympics, will be looking to set another PR on the international stage. After doing most of his training in Gold Coast, Australia, Mandell is now in training camp in London and excited for another rare opportunity. He is one of just eight athletes that will
represent Guam this summer joins former Pilot women’s soccer stars Christine Sinclair (Canada), Sophie Schmidt (Canada) and Megan Rapinoe (USA) as University representatives.
Portland senior
Jared Bassett took
second place in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2012 North America, Central America and Carribean (NACAC) Under-23 Championships Sunday at Paralympic Track Stadium in Guanajuato, Mexico last weekend. Bassett crossed the finish line with a time of 9:23.39, less than one second behind the race winner.
Bassett, who posted an
Olympic B qualifying time earlier this spring and just missed competing at the 2012 USA Olympic Trials, was the top American finisher in the event. A 2011 NCAA All-America in the Steeplechase, Bassett will return to The Bluff for a redshirt senior season and compete once again in cross country as well as track and field.
Incoming freshman
Izaic Yorks (Lakewood, Wash./Lakes HS) represented the United States at the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain this week. Yorks placed
seventh in the preliminary heat with a time of 3:49.21 after qualifying with a PR time of
3:46.67 in the 1,500-meter run at the USA Junior Outdoor Championships last month. He was one of three USA runners to compete in the 1,500 in Barcelona.
Yorks also showed well at the
2012 Adidas Dream Mile with a time of 4:04.38, which wasn’t even his personal best this year (4:04.00). Yorks was the 2012 Washington 3A State Champion at 800 meters and 1,600 meters, while posting the fastest 1,600 time in the nation at the high school level.
