EUGENE, Ore. - In her first U.S. Olympic track and field trials, Tampa's Damu Cherry looked more like a determined, business-like veteran than a 30-year-old rookie.
Cherry easily passed through two rounds of the 100-meter hurdles Saturday at Hayward Field to advance to today's semifinal round. Cherry won her preliminary heat in the morning in a time of 12.92 seconds. Two hours, 15 minutes later, Cherry ran second in her quarterfinal heat with a time of 12.86, seventh-best on the day.
"I'm really prepared for this, so I wasn't too nervous," Cherry said after her second race. "For me, I prepared for this for four years now. I've been practicing this moment for four years.
"It's like I've been here before. I visualized it, and it's everything I imagined."
Cherry, a Leto High and University of South Florida graduate, missed the 2004 trials because she was serving a two-year doping suspension.
In the men's 200, Brooksville's John Capel finished seventh in his semifinal heat (20.81), failing to reach the final and ending his trials. He was knocked out in the 100 semifinal earlier in the week.
The big news of the day was the injury to Tyson Gay in the first round of the 200. Gay, winner of the trials' 100, pulled up in the curve, fell to the track and grabbed his left hamstring.
Gay's injury is being called a "severe cramp."
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