July 12, 2004
GROSSETO, Italy - Tiger freshman Marcus Mayes runs Tuesday in the first round of the 800-meter run at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy. The first round of the competition will begin Tuesday at 12:18 p.m., central time. Mayes, a native of Sand Springs, Okla., qualified for the Team USA event by finishing second at the USATF Junior National Championships in College Station, Texas, in late June.
Mayes will have to go through two rounds to get the 800-meter final which is scheduled for Friday, the 16th. In the fourth of five heats tomorrow, Mayes must finish in the top two of his heat or have one of the best six remaining times to advance to the Wednesday's semifinals.
Mayes ran for a personal-best of 1:49.94 in the 800 meters at the Ward Haylett Invitational in mid-May where he qualified for the NCAA Mideast Regional and gained a World Junior Qualifying mark in the process. Mayes earned two All-Big 12 honors during the 2004 indoor season with a sixth place finish in the 800 and as part of the 1600-meter relay team that finished seventh. In 2003, Mayes won an AAU and USATF National Age Group championship in the 800 as well as a USATF Age Group Championship in the 1500.
Marcus is the son of Alvin and Sonya Mayes, is a business major, and was born in Midland, Texas.
For complete coverage of Mayes' first world-wide meet, visit mutigers.com throughout the next days. Results following each race will be on iaaf.org.