Utahns Casey Clinger and Conner Mantz finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the finals of the 10,000-meter run Friday night in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, narrowly missing a berth in this summer’s Olympic Games in that event.
Only the top three advance to the Paris Olympics.
Clinger, who redshirted the 2024 collegiate season at BYU, and Mantz, a two-time NCAA cross country champion while competing for BYU, ran together during the late stages of the race and made a game effort to make the team but ultimately fell short.
Grant Fisher and Woody Kincaid finished 1-2 to reverse their finish in the 2021 trials, earning berths on their second Olympic team.
Fisher, the American record holder in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs, finished with a time of 27:49.47. Kincaid had a time of 27:50.74.
The third Olympic berth was earned by 21-year-old Nico Young with a time of 27:52.40, just one second ahead of Drew Hunter.
Clinger was next in 27:59.71, followed by Mantz in 28:00.90.
Creed Thompson, who, like Clinger, will compete for BYU next year, was 17th in 29:06.38.
Dillon Maggard, a former Utah State athlete, did not finish the race, perhaps making a game time decision to save his energy for the 5,000-meter run that will be contested later in the meet.
Mantz, who has already earned a spot on the Olympic team by winning the U.S. marathon trials in February, is an aggressive front runner and he attacked this race from the start.
He ran from the front much of the race, leading a breakaway pack. About halfway through the 6.2-mile race, several runners bridged the gap, Clinger among them, to make it a 10-man pack, with Mantz and Clinger bringing up the rear.
With three laps to go, five men made another breakaway and a half-lap later Fisher made a big move to gap his rivals.
Mantz also is scheduled to run the 5,000-meter race.
Many of Utah’s entries produced good results on the opening day of the trials, which will conclude June 30. According to BYU, the school produced more Olympic trials qualifiers than any other school, with 21 current or former athletes.
Eight of them competed in trials heats on Friday and six of them advanced to the next round.
Meghan Hunter, a junior at BYU, qualified for the semifinals of the 800-meter run by finishing sixth in a heat that included former NCAA champion Michaela Rose, world championships bronze medalist Ajee Wilson and rising young star Addy Wiley.
Hunter finished with a time of 2:01.58. Rose had the day’s fastest time, 1:59.57.
Whittni Morgan, the former NCAA cross-country champion for BYU, also found herself in a loaded semifinal heat of the 5,000 meters, matched against the likes of Olympians Elle St. Pierre and Karissa Schweizer and four-time NCAA champion Parker Valby.
Morgan was part of a four-woman pack that broke away from the field late in the race. St. Pierre and Schweizer finished 1-2, followed by Valby and, one behind, Morgan, who clocked 15:18.67.
They had the fastest four overall times, as well (there were two heats).
As expected, Kenneth Rooks, the defending U.S. champion formerly of BYU, qualified for the steeplechase finals, winning his semifinal heat with a time of 8:26.90.
What wasn’t expected was the performance of BYU sophomore James Corrigan. Two weeks ago he placed only ninth in the NCAA championships, but on opening day of the Olympic trials, he cut seven and a half seconds off his personal record and finished with the day’s second fastest time, 8:21.22
Lucas Bons, a BYU junior, advanced to the semifinals of the 1,500-meter run. He finished ninth in his heat and posted the day’s 16th fastest time, 3:37.99.
Three Utah athletes qualified for the trials in the javelin. Only one of them, BYU All-American Cameron Bates, advanced to the finals.
Weber State’s Cody Canard and Joshua Trafny failed to advance.
Bates’ BYU teammate, Danny Bryant, another first-team All-American, failed to advance to the finals of the shot put after finishing 23rd with a throw of 61 feet.
Jaslyn Gardner, who recently finished her collegiate career at BYU, finished 34th in the first round of the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.56, easily her slowest time of the year.
She set the BYU school record of 11.22 earlier this season and posted a time of 11.00 in the NCAA West prelims with a barely illegal wind aid.
Logan Hammer, a sophomore from Utah State, also failed to advance to the finals of the pole vault, finishing 20th in the first round.
The trials will resume Saturday.