Desirea Buerge finishes 11th at U.S. Olympic Trials

The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

Jun. 20—EUGENE, Ore. — Webb City High School and Missouri Southern product Desirea Buerge finished 11th in the U.S. Olympic Trials discus final on Saturday at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field.

Buerge, an All-American at Texas-Rio Grande Valley this past spring, picked up her 11th-place finish with a throw of 181 feet, 11 inches. She was one of 12 throwers in the 24-woman field to advance to the final after recording a throw of 183-9 in the prelims on Friday.

The top three placers in Saturday's final will represent the U.S. in the Olympics in Tokyo. Valarie Allman of ASICS/NYAC is one of them after besting the field with a mark of 229-5, while Micaela Hazlewood (205-2), unattached, and Tracksmith/Iron Wood TC's Rachel Dincoff (197-6) placed second and third, respectively.

Allman, a seven-time All-American at Stanford, placed seventh in the 2019 World Championships and set a U.S. Olympic Trials meet record on Friday by hitting a mark of 229-8 in the preliminaries.

Buerge qualified for the Olympics on April 16 with a throw of 193-2 during the Roadrunner Invitational at the University of Texas-San Antonio. That throw was both a personal best for Buerge and a UTRGV school record.