North Mason, WSU grad headed to Paris with U.S. Olympic track and field

Kitsap County will have a local athlete to cheer on at the upcoming Paris Olympics, after North Mason High graduate CJ Allen made the United States track and field team during Sunday's U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

Allen, now 29 and a 2013 North Mason graduate who won two state track and field championships in high school and then won two Pac-12 titles competing for Washington State, finished second in the final heat of the 400-meter hurdles to earn his Olympic trip. His time of 47.81 seconds trailed only Rai Benjamin, who set a meet record at 46.46, and narrowly ahead of Trevor Bassett, at 47.82.

Sunday's time was Allen's fastest this year, and just behind his all-time best of 47.58 seconds, set in 2023. He ran a 48.16 in Friday's semifinal heat, and trailed only Benjamin headed into the final.

"I was 10 years old when I saw the Olympics go off and I said that one day I'd be an Olympian," Allen said during an interview with RunnerSpace after his race , which has been posted to YouTube. "I've been running hurdles for 19 years, and this is probably my greatest dream, to make this team.

The 2024 Olympic Trials were Allen's third attempt at making the team, after he fell short of qualifying for the trials final in both 2016 and 2020. He came in as a strong contender for one of the country's top spots, having set the American indoor record in the 400-meter hurdles in January 2023, running 48.88 seconds at a meet in Iowa, and qualifying as an alternate for the 2022 U.S. World Championship roster.

"I knew coming in that I was a heavy favorite, a contender for this team," Allen told RunnerSpace. "Whether other people believed that or not, I knew it in my heart."

Allen now competes for Asics, and has trained for the elite level of competition while also working on both his doctorate in chiropractic and a master's degree in sport health science at Life University in Marietta, Georgia. He finished both degrees last fall, he told RunnerSpace.

Following Sunday's race, which was the last event of the 10-day Olympic Trials at historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, Allen thanked the community back in North Mason for their support.

"I've been getting messages from old friends, people in the community I've never met," Allen said to RunnerSpace. "They've all been backing me. Everybody back home, my family, they've been backing me. I knew, win or loss, team or no team, they're all going to be there for me regardless."

The 2024 Paris Olympics are scheduled to open on July 26.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: North Mason, WSU grad headed to Paris with U.S. Olympic track and field