Omaha native and Elkhorn High School graduate Alice Schmidt qualified for the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team heading to Beijing after her performance at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon Monday night.

The 26-year-old led the field with the top qualifying mark heading into the event and finished second to Hazel Clark in the women's 800-meter final in a time of 2:00.46, behind Clark's 1:59.82.

Schmidt, a state champion at Elkhorn and NCAA champion at North Carolina, said her race strategy was to run away from the pack and avoid the kind of spill that marred an earlier race.

"We were both just needing to get out of trouble so it worked out quite well. We stayed out of trouble, didn't cut my stride. It was fine because I was in the top three."