Marysville-Pilchuck grad Haley Nemra competed in the Olympic women’s 800 meters preliminaries in Beijing.

In the Aug. 15 preliminaries, Nemra raced on behalf of her father’s country, the Marshall Islands, in the second of six heats, finishing the course in 2:18.83. Northwest track blogger Paul Merca reports she ran a 64-second split in her first 400 meters. Nemra’s personal best in the event came three months earlier at the Washington state track meet in Pasco where she finished preliminaries in a time of 2:13.83.

While Nemra did not qualify for the Aug. 17 semifinals, nor did the three Americans in the race, Alice Schmidt (2:02.33), Hazel Clark (2:01.59) and Nicole Teeter (did not finish). The former Tomahawk will remain in Beijing throughout the events and returns to the U.S. afterward to begin classes at the University of San Francisco where she plans to compete on the cross country and track teams.