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ByEddiePells The Associated Press EUGENE, ORE. The defending Olympic champion in pole vault warmed up, then cooled down, then ran through the whole pro- cess again, as the driving rain pelted the field Friday at the U.S. Track and Field Trials. "The more time you have to think, the more you're like, 'Wow. This is how bad things happen,'" Jenn Suhr said. Suhr escaped the badness. So many others couldn't avoid it on a rain-drenched afternoon at Hayward Field. On a day that saw LaShawn Merritt lower his world-best mark at 200 meters to 19.74 seconds — in a semifinal heat, no less — and two high-school kids, Michael Norman and Noah Lyles, earn spots in the final, as well, there was just as much buzz about those whose chances got washed away in the rain. First among them was hur- dler Dawn Harper-Nelson, whose run at a third Olympic medal came to a stunning halt in the 100-meter semifinals, when she finished third — not good enough to make the eight- woman final. "Tears are going to come," she said. "Right now, I'm just in shock." Later, after the rain had stopped but the track was still slick, American record-holder Keni Harrison stumbled to a sixth-place finish and a spot on the couch next month. "It happened so fast," Harri- son said, while clearly choking back tears. "I'll have to watch film. It's unfortunate, because U.S. TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS Rain, tears and teens key Olympic spots Merrittlowershisworld-bestmarkin200in semifinal heat, with high school kids in final CHARLIERIEDEL—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Jenn Suhr clears the bar during qualifying for the women's pole vault event at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Friday in Eugene Oregon. By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press LONDON There was Roger Fe- derer, so famous for his flaw- less footwork, flat on his stom- ach, face down and motionless on the Centre Court grass af- ter jamming the toe of his left shoe and stumbling during what turned out to be the fifth set's pivotal game in his Wimbledon semifinal. And, a little earlier Friday, there was Federer, so successful through the years thanks in part to such a pinpoint serve, double- faulting two times in a row — What?! Really?! — while getting broken to drop the fourth set. Two miscues of the sort you're just not used to seeing from him all that often. Two moments that even Fe- derer found hard to fathom. Once seemingly on the verge of a victory that would have given him a record 11th berth in the Wimbledon final, and a shot at an unprecedented eighth men's championship at the All England Club, Federer lost his way and the match, beaten 6-3, 6-7 (3), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 by sixth- seeded Milos Raonic. "This one clearly hurts, be- cause I felt I could have had it. So close," said Federer, who had his surgically repaired left knee checked by a trainer after the uncharacteristic fall and wasn't sure whether he was se- riously injured. "It was really so, so close." Quite true. Federer, owner of 17 ma- jor trophies in all, was merely one point from serving for the match when, ahead two sets to one, he got to 30-40 on Raon- ic's serve at 4-all in the fourth. But the 25-year-old Raonic, the first man from Canada to reach a Grand Slam final, cast aside that break point with a 139 mph service winner. Soon, he was in charge. "I sort of persevered. I was sort of plugging away," said Ra- onic, whose serve reached 144 mph, produced 23 aces and saved eight of nine break points. "I was struggling through many parts of the match. He gave me a little opening towards the end of the fourth. I made the most of it." Carlos Moya — one of Raon- ic's trio of coaches, including three-time Wimbledon cham- pion John McEnroe — said Fe- derer "kind of opened the door for Milos to have a chance to come back. At this stage of the tournament, you pay for that." On Sunday, Raonic will face No. 2 Andy Murray, who eas- ily eliminated No. 10 Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the sec- ond semifinal. Murray beat Ra- onic on grass in the Queen's Club final three weeks ago. It will be Murray's 11th ma- jor final; he's won only two so far, including at Wimbledon in 2013, when he gave Britain its first men's champion at the tour- nament in 77 years. But this is Murray's first Grand Slam title match against someone other than Federer or Novak Djokovic. "You learn from those matches, for sure," said Murray, who's 29. "The older you get, you never know how many chances you're going to have." Federer, who turns 35 on Aug. 8, would have been the oldest fi- nalist at the All England Club since 1974. He remains tied with WIMBLEDON Federererrorsleadto 5-setlosstoRaonic Fall, double-faults cause 7-time tourney champion to exit in semifinal setback CLIVE BRUNSKILL — POOL PHOTO Roger Federer of Switzerland falls over during his men's semifinal singles match against Milos Raonic of Canada at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Friday. ALASTAIR GRANT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Milos Raonic of Canada celebrates a er beating Roger Federer of Switzerland in their men's semifinal singles match Friday at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London. By Gary B. Graves The Associated Press SPARTA, KY. Storms washed out qualifying at Kentucky Speedway on Friday, putting Kevin Harvick on the pole for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Series race based on owner points. Severe weather moved over the track near midday and shortened practice to around 30 minutes. A brief sprinkle followed but cars were able to return to the track for practice. In any event, Harvick's No. 4 Chevy will lead the field to green alongside Brad Keselowski in the No. 2 Ford. It is the first Kentucky pole for Harvick, who has two top-five starts in five trips here. But he and other drivers likely will have to reboot their strategy after rain washed the 1.5-mile tri-oval clean of rubber they put down in hopes of widening grooves on the resur- faced and reconfigured track. "Hopefully, being able to get some more practice will be benefi- cial," Harvick said. "We still don't really have a good idea of exactly where we need to be as far as bal- ance and what is going to happen the longer you run the car." NASCAR SPRINT CUP Harvick gets pole, rain halts qualifying Keselowski also on front row with owner points JOHN RAOUX — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Kevin Harvick got the pole for Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race a er qualifying was rained out Friday at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. PETER DEJONG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Britain's Stephen Cummings crosses the finish line Friday to win the seventh stage of the Tour de France in Lac de Payolle, France. By Andrew Dampf The Associated Press LAC DE PAYOLLE, FRANCE Adam Yates didn't know what hit him. On the attack in the Tour de France, the British rider was sud- denly performing a somersault in midair after an inflatable arch marking the final kilometer col- lapsed and hit him during a bi- zarre finale to Friday's seventh stage. Yates hit the ground hard, bloodying his chin and bruising his shoulder. Still, he was able to get back on his bike and reach the finish shortly after his country- man Steve Cummings won the first of four stages in the Pyre- nees with a solo attack on the Col d'Aspin climb. "I had no time to react," Yates said after getting his chin stitched up. "It's a good thing it was just me on my own. It could have been a lot worse with the peloton sprinting at 70 kph (45 mph). ... I can't tell you what happened. The barrier came down." Fortunately, his day only got better. Organizers later revised his time and he rose to second in the overall standings, 5 minutes 50 seconds behind race leader TOUR DE FRANCE Inflatable arch falls on rider, as Cummings wins 7th stage TENNIS PAGE 2 CYCLING PAGE 2 NASCAR PAGE 2 TRACK PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, July 9, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1