AP PhotoEUGENE, Ore. (WRCB) -- Phoebe Wright came up just short in the biggest race of her life Monday.
The former Red Bank High runner and Signal Mountain native finished fifth in the women's 800-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team Trials at the University of Oregon's Hayward Stadium.
Only the top three finishers earned a trip to London.
Alysia Montano led wire-to-wire to win in 1:59.08. Geena Gall finished (1:59.24) and Alice Schmidt (1:59.46) took the other two spots on Team USA.
Wright, who ran in third for most of the race, crossed in 1:59.72 to miss a trip to London by just 26-hundredths of a second. Molly Beckwith also finished ahead of Wright with a time of 1:59.68.
The former Lady Vol's Olympic hopes aren't dashed just yet, though.
Wright, who failed to win a high school state championship before blossoming into a national champion after walking on to the track team at Tennessee, is also entered in the 1,500 meters later this week. She'll run in the preliminaries of that event Thursday in hopes of qualifying for Friday's semifinals and eventually Saturday's final.
