Tag: runs

Courageous Alas Pilipinas runs smack into brick Vietnam wall to bow out

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Sisi Rondina leads Alas Pilipinas in scoring in the loss. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

Alas Pilipinas gave it a gallant go on Friday night but still fell to powerhouse and world No. 34 Vietnam, 25-14, 25-22, 25-21, to bow out of contention after just one game in the FIVB Challenger Cup at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Thi Bich Tuyen Nguyen demolished the Philippine defense and came away with 30 points, all but three of them on attacks as the Vietnamese closed the doors on the Filipinos while advancing to another knockout game opposite the Czech Republic slated Saturday.

Sisi Rondina had 15 points, Angel Canino contributed 12 and the Filipinos played their hearts out defensively but still couldn’t solve the Vietnamese puzzle. Vietnam, the recent AVC Challenge Cup champion where Alas finished an all-time best third place, has beaten the Philippines in all of their matches for the last three years running.

“During a huddle, Jia (de Guzman) told us to not think of anything else and just show what we can do,” Rondina said in Filipino as the squad bowed out with its head held high. “Even if we fell short, our fight was still there and we gave it our best until the end.”

Still a good fight

The 24-year-old Nguyen was a one-woman wrecking machine that the Filipinos had no answer to as she drilled the cross court kill that put the Vietnamese at match point.

Still, it was a good fight that the Philippines put up, as it even led by a point late in the third set with De Guzman orchestrating the offense well and Fifi Sharma and Thea Gagate manning the net with some authority.

The loss ended Alas Pilipinas’ bid to qualify for the Volleyball Nations League next year, even as the Czechs will have a chance to keep on playing after scoring a 25-15, 25-22, 25-16 win over Argentina in the first game.

Belgium and Puerto Rico will battle it out in the other semifinal pairing after sweeping their respective opponents on opening day.

Canino looks at the loss in a different way.

“Like what I always say, we really didn’t lose,” said Canino, the AVC Challenge Cup Best opposite spiker. “We won’t be going home defeated because we always learn something, especially now that we fought Vietnam [hard].

“So we feel like we know where we are at and what else we can improve on as a team.”

Alas’ next tournament will be the Southeast Asia V.League in August where it would be looking to bounce back.



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“We really wanted [to continue playing in the next few days] because we were given time to prepare even though it was [still] short,” Canino added. “You may not see it, but the dedication of everyone was there so we really wanted to play in this tournament longer.”

Alaysha Johnson runs in borrowed spikes, uniform she designed

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Alaysha Johnson reacts to a second place during the women’s 100-meter hurdles final during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Team Trials, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

EUGENE, Oregon — Alaysha Johnson ran in shoes she borrowed from a fellow hurdler and in a uniform she designed herself.

Both fast and fashion-forward.

The 100-meter hurdler earned a spot to the Paris Games with a second-place finish in a competitive field at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials on Sunday. Johnson, the hurdler who has hypothyroidism and trains around NFL and NBA players, ran a personal-best time of 12.31 seconds to finish .06 behind winner Masai Russell.

READ: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone sets 400m hurdles world record

To think, Johnson was a long shot to make this team — a long shot, that is, to everyone but herself.

“People like me who come from the inner city of Houston … it’s hard for us to get opportunities,” said the 27-year-old Johnson, who ran at the University of Oregon and at Texas Tech. “It always takes what I say is double the effort to get half as far. I always tell people if we had a little bit more support, I probably could have been here a long time ago.

“But it made me understand that regardless of how many people have your back, I’m still strong enough to do this on my own two feet.”

Running down the track in borrowed spikes, no less. Tonea Marshall, who finished fifth, was gracious enough to give Johnson a pair after the first round when Johnson said the “bubble popped” on the only pair she brought.

It hasn’t been the traditional path to the starting line for Johnson.

For one, she doesn’t train around sprinters/hurdlers so much as some recognizable names in the NBA and NFL realms. She said the list includes Kansas City Chiefs receiver Mecole Hardman and Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant.

“Anybody that you ever knew that was amazing, on those cereal boxes, we probably trained them,” Johnson said of the staff she works with.

READ: Noah Lyles speeds through finals, earns spot at Paris Olympics in 100m

Among the support staff for Johnson is an endocrinologist. She has hypothyroidism, a condition with her thyroid gland that leaves her tired and lethargic. She cut down on her warmup Sunday, “to make sure I can conserve as much as I could to be able to get through 10 hurdles,” she said.

Once she crossed the line, she anxiously looked at the board.

“I had no idea what place I was and I was like, ‘Hurry up and put these names up,’” said Johnson, who has a deal with Oakley but not a shoe contract. “I knew I was ready to make this team. I knew nothing or nobody was going to come in between me and making this team. So I feel fulfilled.

“We did this ground up. So honestly, I just hope that somebody sees that I’ve worked my tail off — my team has worked their tails off — to get this far. We could have been this far a long time ago, had we had a little bit of help.”

Rai Benjamin

In the men’s 400 hurdles, Rai Benjamin won in a 46.46 seconds, a trials record, the best time of the year and the sort of time men only started dreaming about a few years ago.

Benjamin was part of the fastest 400 hurdles race ever at the Tokyo Games, where he ran 46.17 but finished second to Norway’s Karsten Warholm, who ran the first sub-46 hurdles in history.

Make it a double

Grant Fisher won the 5,000 meters in 13 minutes, 8.85 seconds to complete the distance double. He opened the meet with a victory in the 10,000.

Fisher holds the American record in both races. He withstood an early gamble by Woody Kincaid, who went out fast early in hopes of reaching the Olympic standard that he did not have (13:05). But Fisher was part of a pack that caught Kincaid midway through the race. Then, Fisher beat Abdihamid Nur in a sprint to the line for a .16-second win.

Jamaican trials

At Jamaican nationals, world champion Shericka Jackson won the 200 meters in 22.29 seconds. Brian Levell won the men’s race in 19.97, followed by Andrew Hudson.

Hudson’s trip to world championships last year was marred when the cart he was riding to the waiting area for his race crashed into another cart, spraying glass shards into his eye.

Around the track

— Maggie Malone Hardin won the javelin throw and will head to the Olympics. Second-place finisher Kara Winger, who came out of retirement to compete, threw 62.94 meters (206 feet, 6 inches), which was short of the Olympic standard of 64 meters (209-11). She said she needed to throw 64 to go to the games because she has lost her world ranking.

— Bridget Williams won the pole vault, with reigning Olympic champion Katie Moon earning a spot by taking second place. Sandi Morris, the 2016 Rio Games silver medalist, wound up fourth.



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— Shelby McEwen cleared 2.30 meters (7-6 1/2) to take the high jump title. JuVaughn Harrison, an Olympic medal hopeful, didn’t make the Olympic squad.

— Bryce Hoppel won the 800 and Nikki Hiltz the 1,500 — both with meet records. Daniel Haugh (hammer) and Salif Mane (triple jump) also won.