One year ago, Lisa Galaviz was on top of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in the United States. But that success in 2007 didn’t continue in 2008 for the former Arizona State All-American and Gilbert resident.

Galaviz missed out on a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, placing fifth in Thursday’s final of the steeplechase at the U.S. Olympic track and field team trials at Eugene, Ore.

And to further add to Galaviz’s bad night, Anna Willard won the event in 9 minutes, 27.59 seconds, breaking the American record in the event that Galaviz set on July 28, 2007.

“I knew I was in 9:28 or better shape. I knew I was ready,” Willard said. “Tonight it had nothing to do with time. I just wanted to be on the team.”

Willard will be joined in Beijing by Lindsey Anderson (9:30.75) and Jennifer Barringer (9:33.11). Galaviz finished in 9:48.27, well off her 9:28.75 personal best.

Things weren’t all bad for ASU in the steeplechase. ASU’s Kyle Alcorn finished second in his heat of the men’s 3,000 steeplechase to advance to Saturday’s final.

“This is kind of the cherry on top and anything that happens here is great for me,” Alcorn said. “I kind of took my college season light in May and April to prepare for this and I think it has helped so far.”

Two other Arizona State athletes also moved on to the finals in their events. Sarah Stevens and Jessica Pressley advanced out of the preliminaries in the women’s shot put, as did Scottsdale resident Adrianne Blewitt.

Mesa Mountain View graduate April Steiner Bennett made 14 feet, 1 1/4 in the pole vault to advance to the finals, while ASU’s April Kubishta cleared 13-5 1/4, but that left her out of the finals.

Mesa’s John Godina, a three-time Olympian, advanced to the finals in the men’s discus, getting in one legal throw of 202-3, which was fourth in the prelims.

The biggest surprise of the night came when LaShawn Merritt pulled his second upset of the year over Jeremy Wariner, the world’s supposed fastest 400-meter runner, dashing away from Wariner in the homestretch to win the men’s 400.

“Coming into this, I wasn’t really worried about everyone saying I wasn’t the favorite,” Merritt said. “In my mind, I was the favorite.”

Merritt finished in 44 seconds flat, defeating the defending Olympic and two-time world champion by 0.20. Earning the third spot was national indoor champion David Neville.

Moments before, the women’s 400 went much more to form, with Sanya Richards winning and Mary Wineberg and Dee Dee Trotter capturing the other two spots. In the 1,500-meter quarterfinals, Bernard Lagat, Lopez Lomong, Alan Webb and Leo Manzano advanced to today’s semis.