How BYU great Kenneth Rooks lived to run another day

Kenneth Rooks , the two-time U.S. champion from BYU, survived the first round of the 3,000-meter steeplechase Monday and now he faces the ultimate test: On Wednesday he not only will compete in the finals of the Olympic Games, but he will face some of the stiffest competition the event has ever assembled.

On a day when three current and former BYU track and field athletes were competing in the Paris Olympic Games, Rooks placed second in the third of three heats to easily advance to the finals. Ethiopia’s Lamacha Girma, the world record holder, was the winner with a time of 8:23.89, followed closely by Rooks and Kenya’s Simon Koech, who were given the same time, 8:24.95.

The other two Americans failed to advance, including Rooks’ training partner, James Corrigan , who completed his sophomore season at BYU last spring. Corrigan finished 10th in the first heat with a time of 8:36.67. Only a month ago, he set the American collegiate record of 8:13.67.

The finals of the steeplechase will be held Wednesday at 1:40 p.m. MDT.

Rooks found himself in the slowest of the three heats. The pace was tactical and slow and Rooks ran in the lead pack of five.

“With 1K to go, they started squeezing hard (increasing the pace) and I responded to the move,” he said.

He moved to third on the bell lap and then sprinted to second at the finish, barely nosing out Koech.

“Kenny showed why he is America’s best steeplechaser right now,” said coach Ed Eyestone . “He aggressively put himself at the front of the pack, where the race happens. He responded to the moves of the world record holder. He stayed out of trouble despite the congestion from an early slow pace.

“When the race picked up he found the rail to run less distance and he moved with the leaders and then kicked toward the front so he wouldn’t be nipped by the hard charging closers,” he continued. “It was a masterclass of racing tactics at the elite level.”

In the final, Rooks will face Girma, the 2021 Olympic silver medalist and world record holder, and Morocco’s Soufiane el Bakkali, the defending Olympic champion and two-time world champion. Both have run well under eight minutes in the steeplechase. Rooks’ personal record is a relatively modest 8:15.08, which he produced earlier this year.

“I don’t know what my limit is,” said Rooks said over the phone Monday as he was having dinner in Paris. “I’ve been running fast times in training. I have the confidence to go with a fast start.”

The problem is, he’s never really been in a fast race this year during his brief three-year career as a steeplechaser. He has competed in mostly slower, tactical races, which plays into his strength as a kicker. But both Eyestone and Rooks believe he can run much faster, given the right race.

“If (the final) goes out slowly, it plays into my hands,” he said. “I think the final will be very fast. They’re not going to want to mess around. If I were Girma going against Bakkali, I’d go out hard till he can’t go anymore.”

So the question is, can Rooks, who has won so many races by pushing from 1,000 to 800 meters out after a modest early pace, compete in a race that goes out at a sub-8:10 pace or faster.

“That’s the big mystery,” said Rooks. “I feel capable of a lot more. … Whether it’s fast or slow, I’m going to try to stay in the hunt.”

Before Monday’s race, Rooks had competed in only two international races — both of them in last year’s world track championships in Budapest. He placed 10th in the final. “I learned a lot from that experience,” he said.

Rooks’ performance Monday means that three of the four BYU athletes who have competed so far in Paris have advanced to the finals. Courtney Wayment , another BYU alum, will compete in the finals of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase Tuesday at 1:10 p.m. MDT. She qualified for the finals of the 2023 world championships, as well.

Whittni Morgan, the former national champion from BYU and Panguitch, competed in the finals of the 5,000-meter run on Monday and finished 14th. No one could fault her effort or race savvy — she finished with a time of 14:53.57, breaking her year-old personal record by almost nine seconds. U.S. teammates Kara Schweizer and Elise Cranny finished 10th and 11th, respectively, with times of 14:45.57 and 14:48.06.

It was a remarkable Olympics for Morgan, considering all she had to overcome to reach Paris. She was on crutches for four weeks after undergoing knee surgery on Nov. 20. She didn’t start running until February and it wasn’t until March that she could resume intense running on the track. She didn’t run her first race of the year until April 13.

Morgan placed fifth in the Olympic trials, but was promoted to the Olympic team after two of the runners, who finished ahead of her, decided to drop out of the 5,000 to focus on another race in the Olympics.

“I am so proud of the gutsy effort from Whittni,” said coach Diljeet Taylor. “She finished 14th in the world and ran a nine-second personal best on the biggest stage in an Olympic final. I have no words … she made us all proud.”