EUGENE, Ore.—Villanova rising sophomore Dan Watcke (Hinsdale, Ill.) finished second in the 800 meters at the USATF U20 Championships on Thursday night and qualified for selection to the American squad for the World Athletics U20 Championships which take place in Lima, Peru later this summer. Watcke and women's rising sophomore Ajanae Thompson (Rahway, N.J.) were in action at Hayward Field on Thursday night for the conclusion of the USATF U20 meet. Thompson reached the final round of the women's 100 meter hurdles.
 
Watcke recorded a time of 1:47.59 in the final of the 800 meters one day after he was the top qualifier coming out of the first round heats in 1:50.47. Each of the top eight runners in the nine-person final posted times under the World U20 standard of 1:50.50, with only the top six eligible for selection to the meet. Watcke was in second place after an opening lap split of 53.34 and he held his spot at the finish line even as there was plenty of shuffling for spots around him. Six of the nine competitors went out in under 54 seconds in the first 400 meters.
 
Thursday night's final marked the third race in five days for Watcke, who recorded his lifetime best mark of 1:46.78 at the Portland Track Festival on Sunday night prior to coming down to Eugene for the USATF U20 meet during the week. He is coming off a freshman collegiate season in which he was the BIG EAST runner-up in the 800 meters (1:47.00) to teammate Sean Dolan and went on to reach the national quarterfinal round at the NCAA East Preliminary in Lexington, Ky. Watcke was part of the Wildcats distance medley relay team which won a Championship of America title at the Penn Relays.
 
Athletes are eligible for selection to the World Athletics U20 Championships by finishing in the top six of their event at the USATF U20 meet in addition to having achieved the World Athletics qualifying standard by the conclusion of the event. The athletes who met this criteria will be notified during the week of July 8 to confirm their acceptance on the United States squad.
 
Thompson finished fourth in her heat of the 100 meter hurdles earlier on Thursday with a time of 13.74 and moved on to the final later in the night. The top dozen competitors out of 14 total easily came in under the World U20 qualifying standard of 14.20, while Thompson was also within two-hundredths of a second of equaling her personal best time of 13.72 established in the final at the BIG EAST Championships last month. A competitive final saw Thompson finish eighth overall in 13.79.
 
One of the rising prospects in the Villanova program, Thompson earned All-BIG EAST honors outdoors in the 100 meter hurdles and ran the third leg of the Wildcats 4x100 meter relay at the conference championships. She finished fourth in the 60 meter hurdles at the indoor BIG EAST meet earlier in the year. Entering her sophomore collegiate campaign in 2024-25, Thompson is tied for eighth place in school history in the 60 meter hurdles with a personal best mark of 8.43.
 
The World Athletics U20 Championships take place in Lima, Peru from August 27-31.