Greenwood Olympian makes another bid for the U.S. team

Greenwood native Anna Willard Pierce will run in an Olympic trial heat today (Thursday), in her attempt to again make the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team.

Pierce, a 2002 graduate of Telstar High School, was scheduled to run in a 1,500-meter qualifying heat late Thursday afternoon at the University of Oregon, where the track trials are taking place.

Pierce qualified to go to the trials in Oregon by posting a sub-4:06 minute 1,500-meters last week.

The semifinals for the 1,500 will be Friday, and the finals, in which the top three finishers will make the team, take place Sunday, July 1.

John Applin, who coach Pierce in track at Telstar, said she is ranked sixth among the top 10 American women in the event. He said Tuesday that barring a “bad day,” she will likely make the finals.

The final race is scheduled to be shown on NBC-TV (Channel 6) between 7 and 8 p.m. Sunday.

The U.S. team travels to London to compete in the Olympics next month.

Pierce was a standout runner in high school, and went on to run in college at Brown University and the University of Michigan. In 2008 she made the Olympic team in the steeple chase, competing in the Beijing Olympics.

But Pierce decided against continuing in that event. Instead, she switched to the 1,500 meters and has been training in that event for the past four years.

She currently lives in California with her husband, Jon.