J.R. Celski advances to 1,500-meter semifinal

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) J.R. Celski advanced to the 1,500-meter semifinal in the U.S. Short Track Championships with a time of 2 minutes, 18.224 seconds Friday.

The meet will determine the skaters for the ISU World Cup teams in Dresden, Germany; Dordrecht, Netherlands, and the world championship team in Seoul, South Korea.

Ryan Pivirotto, Aaron Tran, John-Henry Krueger, Adam Callister, Aaron Heo, Cole Krueger, Chris Creveling, Tyler Kroll, Keith Carroll Jr., Casey Mullarkey, Shaner LeBauer and Soo An Yoo also reached the 1,500 semifinal.

Thomas Insuuk Hong led the 500 at 41.318, and Carroll, Krueger, Callister, Pivirotto, Mullarkey, Krueger and Creveling also advanced. Creveling topped the 1,000 at 1:27.155, leading Krueger, Heo, Yoo, Tran, Krueger, Callister, Carroll and Hong into the next round.

Jessica Smith Kooreman led the women's 1,000 at 1:32.824. Kimberly Goetz, Franchesca Bell, Jerebelle Yutangco, April Shin, Alexis Burkholder, Kristen Santos and Gabriella Hachem also qualified.

Kooreman also had the top mark in the 500 at 45.175. Goetz, Hachem, Danielle Amos, Santos, Bell, Katy Ralston and Burkholder also advanced.