Aug. 15, 2008

Beijing, China - In her first ever Olympic appearance, Alice Schmidt turned in a time of 2:02:33 in Round 1 of the Women's 800-meter run Friday in Beijing. Schmidt's time was not good enough to advance to Saturday's Semifinals of the Women's 800-meter run. The former Tar Heel placed 27th out of 40 athletes who finished the 800-meter run Friday. She also placed sixth out of seven athletes in the second Heat of the race, as the 800-meter run was broken into six Heats.

Mozambique's Maria Mutola won Round 1 of the Women's 800-meter narrowly defeating Great Britain's Marilyn Okoro with a time of 1:58:91. A total of 24 athletes will advance to the race's Semifinals Saturday. Alice Schmidt became the third Tar Heel to punch her ticket for the 29th Olympiad on Monday in Eugene, Ore. when she finished second in the 800-meter run to earn her first career Olympic bid. Schmidt battled Hazel Clark throughout the race as the duo pulled away from the other finalists to claim the top two spots in the final.

Schmidt was a two-time national champion in the 800 during her time at North Carolina and had been ranked in the top three for the past two years leading up to this week's Olympic Trials. She lived up to the billing on Monday as she ran a 2:00.46 to earn a spot in her first Olympic Games.