The U.S. girls’ 2000-meter relay team qualified out of their heat and into the quarterfinal. Carly Wilson (Jefferson City, MO) moved the team from third to first place on the last lap of their quarterfinal heat, giving them the victory over Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic. They. will race in the semi-finals on Saturday.

“We are very excited to have the girl’s relay team advance,” U.S. Speedskating coach Adam Riedy said. “They skated smart, efficiently and with hunger. Those are great qualities for a team.”

After an early fall by Jeff Simon (Newport Beach, CA), the U.S. boys’ 2000m relay team got back on track in their heat of the race only to be disqualified on the last lap for impeding.

In the individual races, Wilson advanced to the quarterfinals in the 1500m where she skated strong and in the front of the pack but missed out on qualifying for the semi-finals.

Katherine Ruetter (Champaign, IL) fell in her 1500m heat with two laps to go while in a qualifying position. Lana Gehring (Glenview, IL) was disqualified in her heat.

Korea’s Eun-Ju Jung won the event with teammate Jung-Won Choi finishing second and China’s Lugian Kang taking the bronze.

On the boy’s side, Simon was skating strong in his 1500m quarterfinal heat when he was taken out by Bulat Valiullin (RUS) with nine laps to go. Valiullin was ultimately disqualified.

Ryan Bedford (Midland, MI) finished second in his heat to advance to the quarterfinals in the 1500m, where he was disqualified.

JR Celski (Federal Way, WA) skated strong in the 1500m and advanced all the way to the semifinals where he had the unfortunate luck in hitting a block with six laps to go and finished in fourth position.

“(Celski) was skating extremely smart,” Riedy said.

The Koreans swept the boys’ 1500m.

“All our skaters showed signs of maturity skating at this level,” Riedy said. “We are looking for even more success tomorrow.”

RESULTS: (for full results and times, please visit http://www.cyberscoreboard.com/interlynx/index.asp?SUBSPORTID=5&VIEW=RESULTS&SCOPE=0&DIVISIONID=&COMPETITIONID=352&SEASONID=31)

Girls’ 1500m:

1. E. Jung KOR 2:41.077; 2. J. Choi KOR 2:42.417; 3. L. Kang CHN 2:45.354; 4. A. Ito JPN 2:45.492; 5. S. Park KOR 2:47.370; 6. Y. Zhou CHN 2:49.783

Americans: 23. C. Wilson; 31. K. Reutter; DQ L. Gehring

Boys’ 1500m:

1. S. Lee KOR 2:25.195; 2. J. Lee KOR 2:26.462; 3. J. Kim KOR 2:26.837; 4. T. Sun CHN 2:26.848; 5. J. Mineau CAN 2:28.934; 6. X. Liu CHN 2:34.392

Americans: 15. J. Celski; 28. J. Simon; 36. R. Bedford