Tickled pink, the kid goes back to the boonies

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How are you going to keep them running in Fargo, once they’ve seen Eugene?

That’s the question 16-year-old Laura Roesler has to answer after having made the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic trials in the 800 meters.

Roesler finished last in her semifinal heat Saturday against competition of a level she never would find in North Dakota high school meets, where she routinely wins state titles at 100, 200, 400 and 800 meters.

But she made it to the semifinals against that senior elite competition.

‘I’ve just got to run well whenever I find (this type of field) or keep pretending it’s there and stay mentally tough,’’ she said. ‘In the 800, I will see how far I can go by myself, and we train with the boys in practice.’’

Roesler does not have to run preliminary races in her state meet. She admitted her legs felt tired after finishing Friday’s heat with the seventh fastest time of the 16 qualifiers.

Running in the same unadorned pink shirt she had bought for $15 at Target, she ran at the back for nearly the entire semifinal and finished in 2 minutes 6.82 seconds, almost three seconds slower than her Friday time and nearly four seconds from fourth. The top four made the final.

‘My main goal was to make it to the semis, and I did what I wanted to do,’ she said.

-- Philip Hersh

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