Sunday, July 23, 2000

Former ACU athlete going to Olympics
Special to the Reporter-News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eric Thomas became the seventh Abilene Christian University athlete to make a United States Olympic team.

Thomas claimed a spot on the U.S. squad going to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, by finishing second Saturday in the 400-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic trials for track and field. He ran a 48.22, trailing only Angelo Taylor, who turned in the fastest time in the world so far this year (47.62) in winning his second straight U.S. national championship. Before Saturday, Thomas’ 47.94 run June 30 in Rome had been the fastest in the world this year.

“Definitely, I felt a big sigh of relief when I crossed the finish line,” Thomas said. “More relief than happiness. The happiness will come later.”

His sigh of relief was especially meaningful because at the 1996 Olympic trials in Atlanta, Ga., Thomas finished fourth, missing the U.S. team by 0.22 seconds.

He was also fourth last year at the U.S. national meet to miss advancing to the IAAF World Championships in Seville, Spain, by 0.16 seconds.

“I’ve trained for this race since the day after the Olympic trials in Atlanta in 1996,” Thomas said. “I prepared mentally and physically to be stronger.

“The race today went pretty good. I didn’t run the exact race I wanted to, but I wanted to be out well by the fifth hurdle and in position by the eighth hurdle. I knew I had the strength to bring it home.”

Thomas trailed early in the race but moved up among the leaders between the fifth and sixth hurdles. Taylor, a former NCAA Division I champion from Georgia Tech, and Thomas were running 1-2 over the eighth hurdles and then held their positions to the finish line ahead of third-place James Carter.

Thomas graduated from high school in Garrison, and attended Blinn Junior College before going to ACU. He now lives in Houston and trains on the track at Rice University under coach Kim Wrinkle.

Thomas, who won the NJCAA hurdles title at Blinn, was the runner-up at the NCAA Division II meet in 1995 for the Wildcats.

ACU’s other U.S. Olympicans were Bobby Morrow in 1956, Earl Young in 1960, Billy Pemelton in 1964, Tim Bright in 1984, 1988 and 1992, Billy Olson in 1988 and Mark Witherspoon in 1992.