The top three finishers in each event will qualify for the world championships later this summer.
Olympians Kenneth Rooks and James Corrigan will headline a collection of current and former BYU athletes who will compete in the USA outdoor national track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, July 31-Aug 3. The top three finishers in each event will represent the U.S. at the world track championships later in the summer.
As has been the case for several years, BYU will be a force in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Rooks, the 2023 NCAA champion, won the silver medal at last summer’s Paris Games and became the second-fastest American ever. Corrigan, the 2025 NCAA champion, also represented the U.S. in the Paris Olympics, as did Courtney Wayment, the 2022 NCAA champion.
Lexy Lowry, who just completed her senior season at BYU, is the American collegiate record holder and was the runner-up in last month’s NCAA championships. Wayment and Lowry are the fourth- and eighth -fastest Americans ever, respectively.
Rooks opened the season five weeks ago with a victory in the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles, running away from the field over the last three laps and recording the second-fastest time of his career, 8:14.25. He found different results two weeks ago in Monaco, finishing 15th in 8:28.23 in a Diamond League race.
“He had a tough race in Monaco but has looked good the last two weeks and is looking forward to championship-style racing where his kick can be used to full advantage,” says BYU coach Ed Eyestone.
Corrigan has only gotten better a year after his surprise third-place finish in last summer’s U.S. Olympic Trials following his sophomore season at BYU. This spring he won both the steeplechase and 5,000 at the Big 12 championships and then went on to win the steeplechase at the NCAA championships with the fastest time in 47 years. He finished 11th in Monaco and produced a time of 8:14.76 to achieve the world championships qualifying standard.
BYU also is strong in the women’s middle-distance races. Meghan Hunter, who just completed her senior season at BYU, won her first post-collegiate competition, beating a field of professionals in Los Angeles on July 12 in the 800 meters, lowering her personal record to 1:58.21 in the process. That ranks her fourth among Americans this year. The 800 will be one of the most hotly contested races at nationals.
Riley Chamberlain, who just completed her junior season at BYU, also has dropped her personal record in the 1,500 meters since the college season ended. She posted a time of 4:03.98 at the Portland Track Festival and then 4:02.03 to place second in the L.A. meet — a whopping six-second improvement. She is the seventh-fastest American this season.
Casey Clinger, who gave up most of his senior season to turn professional, has America’s second-fastest time over 10,000 meters this year. In late March, in his last race for BYU, he broke a 40-year-old record by clocking 27:11.00. He has been competing on the pro road-racing circuit and in May, in the first 25K race of his life, he set an American record of 1:12:15.
“Casey will be facing stiff competition in Grant Fisher, Nico Young and Garrett Heath,” says Eyestone. All three runners made the U.S. Olympic team last summer. Fisher, who lives and trains in Park City, won bronze medals in both the 5,000- and 10,000-meter runs. Young set the American outdoor record for 5,000 meters this summer.
There will be one conspicuous absence: Whittni Morgan, who qualified for the Olympics last summer in the 5,000 and placed fourth in the world indoor track championships last winter, reported via social media that she is pregnant.
Another former BYU athlete has turned heads this spring. Abe Alvarado produced modest performances as a BYU athlete in 2017 and 2018, with bests of 3:46 for 1,500 meters and 1:49 for 800 meters. This season he has covered the 800 in 1:44.47 and the 1,500 in 3:33.21. He will turn 30 on Aug. 4.
There are a number of other top athletes who live and train in Utah who will compete in Eugene this week. Most of them train at least part-time with the BYU training group: Fisher, the Olympic medalist at 5,000 and 10,000 meters last summer; Allie Wilson, 2024 Olympian at 800 meters; Keira D’Amato, the former American record holder in the marathon; Ella Donaghu, a former Stanford All-American; Emily Venters, the former University of Utah All-American; and steeplechaser James Michalski, the 2023 Pan American Games silver medalist.
Venters began working with Eyestone’s training group about two months ago. “(She) has been preparing for a fall marathon, but has shown great fitness and wanted to see how her strength has transferred to a fast track 5K,” says Eyestone.
Who’s competing?
Current and former BYU athletes who are competing in this week’s U.S. track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon.
- Sami Oblad — 400 meters
- Meghan Hunter — 800 meters
- Riley Chamberlain — 1,500 meters
- Anna Bennett — 1,500 meters
- Carlee Hansen — 1,500 meters
- Sadi Sargent — 1,500 meters
- Abe Alvarado — 1,500 meters
- Lexy Lowry — steeplechase
- Courtney Wayment — steeplechase
- Kenneth Rooks — steeplechase
- James Corrigan — steeplechase
- Casey Clinger — 10,000 meters
- Joey Nokes — 10,000 meters
- Maren Garnett — pole vault
- Dallin Shurts — discus
Category: General Sports
