Wallace Spearmon, Consuella Moore take 200-meter titles at US outdoor championships

Spearmon, Moore capture 200s at outdoor nationals

DES MOINES, Iowa — Wallace Spearmon and Consuella Moore won national titles in the 200 meters at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Spearmon finished in a wind-aided 19.77 seconds Sunday to edge Walter Dix, who won the 100 on Friday. Dix took second in 20.14.

Moore, who recently returned to the track after an extended absence, won in 22.40, edging out Shalonda Solomon.

David Oliver upset David Payne in the 110 hurdles, breezing to the victory in 12.93. Payne, the silver medalist in the Olympics two years ago, finished fourth.

Shot putter Christian Cantwell won his second straight outdoor title with a heave of 71 feet, ½ inches.

Alysia Johnson won the women’s 800 in 1:59.87, while Nick Symmonds took his third straight American title in the 800 in 1:45.98.

Ti’erra Brown won the women’s 400 hurdles by nearly a second, while Lopez Lomong beat Leonel Manzano by less than 0.1 seconds in the men’s 1,500.

The absence of Tyson Gay, who missed nationals with a hamstring injury, and Shawn Crawford, who was a late scratch, left the men’s 200 field thinner than usual. That left Spearmon and Dix as the favorites, and Spearmon kept Dix from sweeping the short sprint events.

Spearmon knows some folks might discount his win because of who he didn’t race against. But to him, a win is a win.

“We’re missing Tyson…and (Crawford) too, and that guy, he’s an animal. Both of those guys are great competitors,” Spearmon said. “You’re going to hear ‘He wouldn’t have won if Tyson was there. He wouldn’t have won if Shawn was there.’ So I mean, hey. Take it. If they’d have been here I would had to race them and you never know what happens.”

Moore was facing a similar situation with Allyson Felix, the 100 winner on Friday and a three-time world outdoor champion in the 200, choosing not to compete in Sunday’s 200 final.

But Moore, running for the first time at the national meet since 2006, held off Solomon and Porscha Lucas for her biggest victory since resuming her career this season.

Dwight Phillips, a three-time world outdoor champion, took the long jump in 27-5½ and Jenn Suhr, the silver medalist in Beijing, won the women’s pole vault at 16-½.

The shot put took center stage among the field events on Sunday, in part because the fans in Iowa are accustomed to seeing the nation’s best at the Drake Relays every year.

Cantwell’s laid-back personality and success at Drake — he’s won seven titles there and was recently inducted into the meet’s Hall of Fame — have made him a fan favorite in Des Moines. The reigning world outdoor champ held off Reese Hoffa and Adam Nelson for the title.

Cantwell wasn’t exactly thrilled with his winning put, which fell shorter than his world-leading 73-4 last weekend in St. Charles, Mo., but in the end he’ll take it.

“Maybe I was too comfortable, I don’t know. It was pretty ugly. But I guess that anytime you win a national championship in the shot put, in U.S., you should be happy,” Cantwell said.

Becky Breisch took the women’s discus at 207-10. Stephanie Brown-Trafton, who won gold in Beijing, never cracked 60 meters and finished third at 196-9.

National indoor champion Jesse Williams won his second career outdoor title with a leap of 7-5.