St. Francis shot putter Maggie Ewen lands short of Olympic berth

Maggie Ewen of St. Francis came up short Thursday in her bid to win a spot in the Tokyo Olympics, placing fourth in the women's shot put at the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Ore.

Ewen had a best throw of 18.92 meters (62 feet, 1 inch). The top three in the event earned berths in the Summer Games, and Ewen's effort was only 1¼ inches behind that of third-place finisher Adelaide Aquilla.

Others gaining Olympic berths were Jessica Ramsey (20.12 meters) and Raven Saunders (19.96.

"Sometimes, it just doesn't come together," said Ewen, the bronze medalist in the 2019 U.S. championships and fourth-place finisher in the 2019 world championships. "It stings. It hurts. But you just have to put one foot in front of the other and get back at it."

Ewen finished third in Thursday afternoon's qualifying round, with a throw of 61-7½.

Asked what went wrong in the finals, she said, "What I wasn't really ready for was two competitions in one day. But practice had been going well. I have no excuses."

Two Minnesota runners advanced to the final in the men's 5,000-meter run. Former Gopher Hassan Mead of Minneapolis finished third in qualifying with a time of 13:36.8, and Garrett Heath of Winona was 15th in 13:44.48.

"It was a simple race," said Mead. "The objective of the day was to advance."

Former Gopher Ben Blankenship of Stillwater advanced to the semifinals of the men's 1,500, posting the 18th-fastest qualifying time of 3:42:46.

Marcus Gustaveson, a former football and track athlete at Concordia (St. Paul), placed 23rd in the men's discus and did not advance to the final.

Gwen Berry raised her fist, then thumped it against her chest and set off on her quest for an even bigger stage to spread her message.

The hammer thrower, who forced the U.S. Olympic world into an uncomfortable conversation about raised fists, kneeling and other demonstrations at the games, finished sixth in qualifying and gained Saturday's final.

"Today means a lot to me," said Berry, who wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Activist Athlete." "My message is very powerful. I want to impact the world."

In a similar vein, Emma Coburn, who serves as vice president of the athlete advocacy group Athletics Association, won her ninth national title in the steeplechase and will head to her third Olympics. Coburn won in a meet-record 9 minutes, 9.41 seconds, then dedicated the victory to her mother, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer late in 2019.

"To have her be well is even more special than going to Tokyo," Coburn said. "Sharing this with her means everything."

Allyson Felix also ran Thursday. Felix, who qualified for the 400 four nights earlier, made it through the first round of the 200. Because of the way the schedule is set, she wouldn't be able to run both distances in Tokyo, but that wasn't on her mind as she scooped up her 2-year-old toddler, Cammy, and headed out of the track.

"I know it's going to be difficult, but trying to sharpen myself up a little bit and just keep going," said Felix, who has been speaking out for moms in the wake of her rupture with Nike over the company's pregnancy policies.

With potentially record temperatures about to reach the Pacific Northwest, parts of the trials are being rescheduled to try to beat the heat.

This weekend's 20-kilometer race walks and the women's 10,000 and men's 5,000-meter finals have all been moved to earlier time slots.