EUGENE, Ore. -- By a very narrow margin, Abilene's Shawon Harris qualified for the semifinals of the men's 110-meter high hurdles with his performances Saturday afternoon at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials for track and field.

Harris, a 2003 graduate of Abilene High School, will be among the 16 athletes competing in two heats of the semifinals at 5:15 p.m. CDT today. The top eight will advance to the final at 7:30 p.m. today on the final day of the Olympic qualifying meet.

"I felt pretty good," Harris, a senior at Texas Tech, said after his two preliminary races Saturday. "I ran a little sloppy in the quarterfinals, but I can't complain. There's a lot of competition out there."

The first round of the 110 hurdles Saturday featured the top 32 hurdlers in the nation and included at least seven former NCAA Division I national champions. Harris ran 13.62 seconds to finish third in his heat that included Olympians Terrence Trammell and Allen Johnson. Antwon Hicks, a former NCAA runner-up from Mississippi, was the heat winner in 13.36 as Johnson failed to finish.

About 80 minutes later, Harris ran 13.63 for sixth in his quarterfinal heat that was won by former NCAA Division II champion Anwar Moore of St. Augustine's in 13.17.

Only the top four from each of the three quarterfinal heats automatically qualified for Sunday's semifinals. However, the runners with the next four fastest times qualified, and Harris' 13.63 was the fourth time qualifier.

That made him the last of the 16 men to advance to today's finals. He made it to the semifinals by .02 over the 17th hurdler.

"I was looking for top four in each round to just advance," Harris said. "I was trying not to worry about my time. The older guys are more acclimated to this competition. It's been a great experience. Eugene is a great place."

Harris, an Abilene High School graduate who celebrated his 23rd birthday last week (July 1), was the Big 12 Conference champion this season and placed fourth at the NCAA Division I meet last month in Des Moines, Iowa. He is coached at Tech by Dion Miller.

"He's got me down to my PRs (personal records) this year," Harris said of Miller (13.51 in the 110 hurdles and 50.05 in the 400 hurdles after missing last year).

"I came back from my redshirt year ready to prove to people I can still run," Harris said. "Overall, I'm pleased with my season."

Also in Eugene on Saturday before a capacity crowd of 20,834, former Abilene Christian University athlete Mickey Grimes advanced through the quarterfinals to the semifinals of the men's 200-meter dash, but he was eliminated before Sunday's final.

He finished third in his quarterfinal heat in 21.18 to advance to the semifinals. He then ran his best time of the weekend, 20.96, but finished sixth with only the top four in each of the two heats advancing to Sunday's eight-man final.

Grimes, who sprinted for the Wildcat track and field team and played defensive back on the football team after transferring from Riverside Community College in 1997, ran 21.00 Friday night in the first round.

Grimes ran Saturday in the same quarterfinal heat with U.S. 100-meter champion Tyson Gay, who fell to the track 40 meters into the race with a severe cramp in his left hamstring. Gay's injury will prevent him from seeking a double in the sprints at the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing Aug. 8-24.

Shawn Crawford, a former Olympic and NCAA champion from Clemson, ran 20.33 to lead the quarterfinals, and Rodney Martin, third at the U.S. championships last year from University of South Carolina, was the fastest in the semifinals in 20.04.

Sunday is the eighth and final day of competition in the meet, portions of which are being televised by NBC (KRBC-TV in Abilene).