Aug. 25, 2004

George Mason rising senior Richard Phillips will keep his Olympic experience going another day as the Jamaican advanced to the semifinals in the 110-meter hurdles on Wednesday by finishing third in his heat. The top three in each heat advanced to the semifinals, which will be held on Thursday at 2 p.m. EDT. Phillips will have familiar company in the semifinals as former Patriot and fellow countryman Maurice Wignall also advanced, finishing third in his heat. Phillips didn't run as fast as he had in Tuesday's opening round when he set a personal best, but he still ran fast enough to automatically qualify for the semifinals. He finished in 13.44, behind only Cuba's Anier Garcia (13.28), the 2000 Olympic gold medalist, and Latvia's Stanislavs Olijars (13.26), who is in his third year of international competition and has the sixth-fastest time in the world this year. Not advancing out of Phillips' heat was Allen Johnson, the four-time world champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist. Johnson, who has run the fastest time this year and is the Olympic record holder, did not finish the race. Wignall was edged out of second place by Haiti's Dudley Dorival as they both finished in 13.39. Mateus Inocencio won Wignall's heat in 13.33. Overall on the day, Wignall was in a three-way tie for ninth while Phillips was 12th.