It won’t be just another day at the oval office for Tara Davis-Woodhall.
The reigning Olympic gold medalist in the long jump and Agoura High graduate will try to bring home her fifth national long jump title at the USATF Championships on July 23-26 at Icahn Stadium on Randall Island in New York City.
But this year, Davis-Woodhall is adding another event into the mix.
For the first time in her professional career, the California high school record-holder in the 100-meter hurdles will contest that event on the national stage.
Davis-Woodhall raced the event earlier this spring for the first time since college, winning the K-State Ward Haylett Invitational in 12.99 seconds. She followed that up with a personal-best performance at the USATF Grand Prix at USC last month, racing to a 12.47 in a stacked field to finish second behind American record-holder Masai Russell.
On top of being ranked No. 1 in the world in the long jump by more than three inches, her 12.49 run in the hurdles is the 11th-fastest time in the world this year.
The pride of Agoura Hills will start off her meet in the semifinals of the women’s 100-meter hurdles on Saturday, July 25, at 12:37 p.m. PDT with live coverage on both Peacock and USATF.tv. The final of the 100 hurdles is later that day at 2:52 p.m.
Women’s long jump will take place on the last day of the competition on Sunday, July 26, at 1:05 p.m.
Ventura High alum and UCLA high jumper Valentina Fakrogha is entered in the women’s high jump — one of 14 athletes in the event. Her season’s best of 1.90 meters is tied for the No. 4 mark in the United States this year.
She will compete on the final day of competition Sunday, July 26, at 12:45 p.m., with coverage on USATF.tv.
Former St. Bonaventure sprint star Celera Barnes of Oxnard, now a veteran of the pro circuit, will compete in the women’s 100-meter dash at this year’s championships.
Barnes has raced nine times in 2026, with a fastest wind-legal mark of 11.12, set July 12 at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational in Canada. She holds a personal best of 10.94 set back in 2022.
The preliminary heats of the 100 meters will go off at 1:56 p.m. PDT on Thursday, July 23, with Barnes racing in the first heat out of lane seven. Coverage of the first round will be available on USATF.tv. The semifinals will be at 3:11 p.m. PDT and the finals at 4:45 on Friday, July 24, with both available to watch live on Peacock and USATF.tv.
Notably absent from this year’s national championships are the great distance talents produced by Ventura County in recent years, including national record-holder in the 5,000 meters — Nico Young and NCAA 800-meter champion Colin Sahlman, both of Newbury Park, as well as former Ventura High star Sadie Engelhardt, now at NC State.
All three raced at last year’s championships.
Young withdrew from the PeachTree 10k earlier this month in what was supposed to be his road debut before not entering USATF Championships. He mentioned injury issues in an Instagram post on July 9.
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at dominic.massimino@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: How to watch locals compete at the U.S. Track and Field Championships
Reporting by Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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By Dominic Massimino, Ventura County Star | USA TODAY Network
