Kaylee Mitchell ran the race of her life, but it wasn't quite enough to secure a trip to Paris.
Mitchell, who starred at Sprague High and Oregon State before signing with Bowerman Track Club this spring, shattered her 3,000-meter steeplechase personal best in the final Thursday at the U.S. Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field. Her time of 9 minutes, 14.05 seconds is the 10th-fastest ever run by an American and the ninth-fastest in the world this season.
But it left her short of a podium finish in a historically fast field.
Mitchell placed fifth despite eclipsing her previous PR by nearly seven seconds. Valerie Constien ran a meet record and a personal-best 9:03.22 to win the race. Courtney Wayment (9:06.50) took second, and Marisa Howard (9:07.14) placed third.
In a race that featured five of the 10 fastest times in U.S. history, the top nine finishers all set lifetime bests.
"I'm really proud of myself," Mitchell said. "I would have never thought that I would be standing here doing this. I'm just really honored to have these women as my friends and my competitors. I'm just really grateful for it."
After a standout prep career at Sprague, Mitchell began her college career at Seattle Pacific before transferring to Oregon State in 2020. She went on to earn All-American honors 10 times with the Beavers and ran at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials. There, she finished 32nd out of 33 competitors and ran 73 seconds slower than she did during Thursday's final.
She took a moment to reflect on just how far she has come in the last three years after a winding journey.
"I've always felt a little weird, because a lot of my teammates and competitors have been like, 'I've always dreamed of being a professional athlete, and running at the Olympic trials, and trying to make Olympic teams," Mitchell said. "I can relate to that, because I just never thought that would really be in the cards. I mean, I started at the Division II level. I really had to earn every little millisecond of a PR that I've had since I started running. I haven't always been good; I know what it's like to not make it in any of the slower heats.
"Even though there's an expectation that I'm in the invite heat now, I always feel super excited and super happy when I see my name in it. Because it hasn't always been that way."
Mitchell could potentially compete in Diamond League meets throughout the rest of the summer but said she isn't sure what the rest of her outdoor season will hold.
"I honestly haven't thought a minute past this race," Mitchell said. "I'm sure I'll talk with (her agent, Stephen Haas) and (Bowerman coach Jerry Schumacher) and put together a plan."
Constien's path to her second Olympic berth was also filled with uncertainty.
She tore her anterior cruciate ligament last May and wasn't cleared to start running on the ground again until last September. As recently as March, she was still experiencing aches and pains from the injury.
"I didn't think I was going to be here, to be perfectly honest," Constien said. "I was like, 'Well, it's a bummer I'm going to miss 2024. But at least I'll be healthy until 2025.' And so I think taking that pressure off and really just trying to focus on being healthy and doing everything right was how I got to this point. I wasn't rushing to get back into it. I was giving myself time. It all just came together really well."
It wasn't until the Sound Running Track Fest on May 14, when she made her season debut in the steeplechase with a 9:27.22 effort, that she began to believe that an Olympic berth was possible.
"Just not doing anything too crazy, right?" Constien said. "I do what my coaches tell me to do. So, if they tell me to run 400s in 74 (seconds), I run them in 74s. I don't need to show off, I don't need to do anything crazy; run 70 miles a week. Just try to stay happy and healthy."
Jarrid Denney covers high school sports and Oregon State for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at JDenney@salem.gannett.com or on X @jarrid_denney
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