Palm Beach County Olympians compete this weekend

Riviera's Beach native and Suncoast graduate Tony McQuay qualified today in the men's 400 meters at the London Olympics.

In front of 80,000 spectators at Olympic Stadium in London, the Florida Gator qualified with a time of 45.48, finishing second in Heat 5.

The 400-meter semifinals are Sunday and finals are Monday.

McQuay is a former state champion at Suncoast who won the NCAA 400-meter title for the University of Florida in June and followed that with a second-place finish at the U.S. Trials.

On Saturday, McQuay placed second in his heat behind only Chris Brown of the Bahamas, who finished in 45.40. The prelims' best time was by Belgium's Jonathan Borlee, in 44.43. Bryshon Nellum (second place in the fourth heat) was the only other American to qualify, with a time of 45.29.

Also Saturday, North Palm Beach native and Cardinal Newman High graduate Laura Bennett and longtime Wellington resident McLain Ward begin competition.

Bennett, formerly Laura Reback, competes in the women’s triathlon event. Bennett finished fourth at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Ward, who has been a member of the gold-medal winning show jumping team at the past two Olympics, had to overcome a broken kneecap suffered during a fall at an event in January in Wellington to get to London. He was sidelined four months but was able to come back and earn a chance to help threepeat as Olympic champion. NBC will show taped coverage of various track and field events during its prime-time network coverage tonight between 8 and midnight.5:30 a.m.