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August 21, 2004 9:29 am

U.S. women hurdlers advance to semifinals

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - The first and quarterfinal round of the 400-meter hurdles was a breeze for Lashinda Demus, Brenda Taylor and Sheena Johnson Saturday morning at Olympic Stadium.

Demus advanced to the semifinal round with a 54.66 second-performance, Taylor with a time of 54.75 and Johnson with a 54.83. All three came in second-place finishes.

But the real work for the Americans begins Sunday. The 16 qualifiers - fastest of them Russia's Yuliya Pechonkina at 53.57; Greek hopeful Fani Halkia who set a national record of 53.85, and Romania's Ionela Tirlea-Manolache at 54.41 - will have it out in two eight-runner semis and the first four in each move into the title race on Wednesday night.

Demus, 21, took special care. She'd clobbered the ninth hurdle at last month's Olympic Trials in Sacramento and barely held on to third place, just 21/100ths of a second in front of veteran Sandra Glover.

``I'm happy with my round,'' said the former NCAA and Pan American junior champion, a product of the powerful track program at Woodrow Wilson High in Long Beach, Calif., now at the University of South Carolina.

``It was a little slower than I thought it was, but it was a clean race.

``I've been in the Athletes Village for a while, so it's good to get out there.''

Taylor, 25, the St. Louis-born graduate of Watauga (N.C.) High School and Harvard University, is now based at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

In 2001, she became just the second women's team track athlete to win an NCAA gold medal for Harvard.

She also majored in the field of cognitive neuroscience.

``It's the focus on the psychological underpinnings of behavior,'' she said in a pre-Olympic interview.

Long term, her goals are to go to law school and business school and work on health-care reform.

Much shorter term, it's the Olympic semifinals Sunday night.

Johnson, 21, a two-time NCAA champion for UCLA, took the Olympic Trials in 52.95, and was immediately billed as an Olympic medal prospect.

Born in Camden, N.J., she went to UCLA.

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