Utah athletes Casey Klinger and Connor Mantz finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 10,000-meter final at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Friday night, narrowly missing out on qualifying for this summer's Olympics.
Only the top three will advance to the Paris Olympics.
Klinger, who will redshirt at BYU for the 2024 collegiate season, and Mantz, a two-time NCAA cross country champion while at BYU, ran together in the closing stages of the race and gave it their all in a bid to make the varsity team but ultimately fell short.
Grant Fisher and Woody Kincaid finished first and second, reversing their 2021 qualifying positions and earning spots on the Olympic team for the second time in their careers.
Fisher, the American record holder in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, finished in 27:49.47. Kincaid finished in 27:50.74.
Securing three Olympic berths was 21-year-old Nico Young, who finished just one second ahead of Drew Hunter in 27 minutes, 52.40 seconds.
Klinger was runner-up in 27:59.71, followed by Mantz in 28:00.90.
Creed Thompson, who, like Klinger, will compete at BYU next year, was 17th in 29:06.38.
Former Utah State athlete Dillon Maggard did not finish the race, likely a game-time decision to conserve his energy for the 5,000 meters later in the meet.
Mantz, who had already secured a spot on the Olympic team after winning the U.S. Marathon Trials in February, is an aggressive front-runner and attacked from the start of this race.
He ran at the front for most of the race and led the breakaway pack until about halfway through the 6.2-mile race, several runners, including Klinger, closed the gap and the pack narrowed to 10, with Mantz and Klinger trailing at the back.
With three laps remaining, five riders broke away again, and half a lap later Fisher made a big move to widen his gap on his rivals.
Mantz is also scheduled to compete in the 5,000m race.
Many of the competitors from Utah performed well on the first day of qualifying, which concluded June 30. According to BYU, the school has produced 21 current or former athletes who have qualified for the Olympic qualifiers, more than any other school.
Eight of them competed in qualifying rounds on Friday, with six advancing to the next round.
BYU junior Megan Hunter advanced to the semifinals of the 800-meter dash after placing sixth in a qualifying round that included former NCAA champion Michaela Rose, world championship bronze medalist Azie Wilson and rising junior Addie Wiley.
Hunter finished in a time of 2:01.58. Rose recorded the fastest time of the day in 1:59.57.
Former NCAA cross country champion Whitney Morgan of BYU will also compete in the 5,000m semifinals against Olympians Elle St. Pierre, Carisa Schweitzer and four-time NCAA champion Parker Valby.
Morgan was part of a group of four that broke away from the rest of the field late in the race. St. Pierre and Schweitzer finished 1-2, followed by Valby and Morgan, who finished one behind in 15:18.67.
They also took 4th place, the fastest overall time (there were two heats).
As expected, BYU athlete Kenneth Lukes, last year's U.S. champion, won his semifinal in a time of 8 minutes 26.90 seconds and advanced to the steeplechase final.
What was unexpected was the performance of BYU sophomore James Corrigan, who two weeks ago finished ninth at the NCAA Championships, but on the first day of Olympic trials he shaved seven and a half seconds off his personal best, finishing in 8:21.22, the second-fastest time of the day.
BYU junior Lucas Bonds advanced to the semifinals of the 1,500-meter run. He placed ninth in the preliminaries and recorded the 16th fastest time of the day, a time of 3:37.99.
Three Utah athletes qualified for the javelin preliminaries, with only one of them, BYU All-American Cameron Bates, making it to the finals.
Weber State's Cody Canard and Joshua Trafney failed to advance.
Bates' BYU teammate, Danny Bryant, a first-team All-American, finished 23rd with a throw of 61 feet and did not advance to the shot put finals.
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 seconds, her slowest time of the year.
She set a BYU school record of 11.22 earlier this season and ran a barely illegal wind-aided time of 11.00 at the NCAA West Regional.
Utah State sophomore Logan Hammer also failed to advance to the pole vault finals, finishing in 20th place in the first round.
The trial resumes on Saturday.
