Gwangju, South Korea – July 10, 2015- Day 3 was full more qualifying marks, excitement and VICTORIES as the U.S. team continued competition on the track here in Gwangju.

The highlight of the day certainly belonged to the back to back silver medalist placings of the 200m runners A’keyla Mitchell and Bryce Robinson.  Having only an hour in between their semi-final and final round of competition both athletes came out fighting and were successful.

Mitchell finished the women’s 200m with a time of 22.95 which is a personal best.

“I placed, I medaled, and I’m on the podium that’s all that matters. I feel pretty good, there is nothing I would say I would go back and change, everything was perfect.  It was an excellent experience competing against females from all over the world.”

Bryce Robinson finished the men’s 200m with a time of 20.51.

“The race went good. I had a good start, I came off the curve and was sitting in good position but the rounds got to me. I was up against a heck of an athlete and he just had a better day.  I didn’t do anything bad, I still turned out second and am happy with that.”

Robinson will continue to be in action tomorrow as he will participate in the relay teams and look to qualify to the final rounds which will take place on the final day of competition, Sunday evening.

In other action on the track, the women’s heptathletes Tatum Souza and Chari Hawkins started their competition today.  After four events Hawkins is in 3rd place with a combined score of 3447 while Souza is in 6th with a score of 3353.  They will finish off the rest of their competition tomorrow by kicking things off with the long jump portion in the morning.

Also on the track in the morning session, Dondre Echols competed in the men’s 110m hurdles.  He finished with a time of 14.52.

Representing the mid-distancing crew and qualifying onto the next rounds are Nick Hartle (1:49.74) and Shaquille Walker (1:50.50) in the men’s 800m and Angela Piccirillo (4:21.03) and Stephanie Schappert (4:21.51) in the women’s 1500m.  The men will compete in a semi-final round while the women will go to a straight final.

Rounding out the morning session was Zaybree Haury in the women’s javelin.  She had a best throw of 42.17m and did not qualify to the next round.

In the afternoon sessions, Ana Holland (24.29) and Leon Powell (21.37) also saw action in the semi-final rounds of the 200m while Jade Barber placed 4th in the final of the women’s 100m hurdles. Despite having a slow reaction time out of the blocks she made up the difference to finish 4th overall.  She finished in 13.03 and was just edged out of making it onto the podium by 0.09.

The final race of the evening belonged to Marisa Howard in the 3000m steeplechase.  In what has to be one of the most grueling races involving three barriers plus a water pit, not to mention the distance alone, Howard looked so controlled throughout the entire race and ran 9:50.64 to take 4th place overall.

Day 3 was one for the books for the US World University Games Track and Field team and we’ve still got plenty of action left in the last two days left of competition.

For the most up to date result and heat information please get out http://www.gwangju2015.com/info/?discipline=athletics