Austin Kratz is a World U20 champion.
The recent Dock Mennonite graduate and Arizona State-bound sprinter provided a strong third leg on Team USA's 4x100-meter relay, which narrowly won gold over Jamaica at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland on Saturday.
The USA team of Eric Harrison, Anthony Schwartz, Kratz, and the anchor leg Micah Williams held off a hard-charging Jamacian squad to capture gold in a time of 38.88, currently the fastest U20 time in the world this year. Jamaica was second in 38.96, while Germany captured bronze in 39.22.
Kratz won a pair of state titles this spring after a winter that saw him win the national indoor title over 200 meters. He just missed an individual spot on Team USA after placing third in the 200 meters at USATF Juniors.
No finals for Hoey, Davies
Josh Hoey just missed out on the finals of the 800 meters. Hoey, who holds the national indoor record, ran an outdoor PR, but it wasn't enough as he took fourth in his semifinal heat.
He clocked a time of 1:48.07, just .10 off third place Alex Botterill of Great Britain. The top three in each heat qualified automatically to the finals, along with the next two fastest times. Markhim Lonsdale ran 1:47.73 to grab the last of those spots.
Thelma Davies and Team USA did not qualify for Saturday's final in the women's 4x100-meter relay. Davies and Oregon's Jasmine Reed botched the final exchange in Friday's preliminary heat, leaving the presumptive favorites out of the finals. Germany won in Saturday's final in a time of 43.82.