WINNING AN OLYMPIC SILVER medal can certainly raise expectations, and Kenneth Rooks felt that weight as he arrived at Hayward Field. But his Paris heroics also provided a huge confidence boost and the BYU grad channeled that to secure a dominant win in the steeplechase, his third straight national title.
The heats didn’t produce any real shocks, with Matthew Wilkinson (8:22.42) and Rooks (8:21.35) leading the way. Evan Jager, the Olympic silver medalist in 2016 and a 7-time U.S. champion, gave it a valiant effort and was in qualifying position with a lap to go in the first section. But the 36-year-old couldn’t match the closing speed of his younger rivals and finished a non-advancing 8th in 8:28.21. He hinted that this might have been his final U.S. track championship appearance.
Two days later, NCAA champ and ’24 Olympian James Corrigan of BYU took the early lead in the final, with Parker Stokes on his shoulder through a pedestrian opening 1000 (2:58.77). Rooks moved into the lead at 1800 meters, pulling fellow Olympian Wilkinson along with him, followed by Tokyo ’21 team member Benard Keter and Corrigan. The 2000 split (2:51.34) was only marginally faster, with all 14 finalists in contact.
With 2 laps to go, Rooks led Keter, Isaac Updike and Wilkinson. At the bell, Daniel Michalski — who has been training with Rooks and Corrigan under coach Ed Eyestone since May — made his presence known, edging up to Rooks’ heels.
“I decided to move up into that second position and go with some reckless abandon and let them fight for 3rd, let them figure it out,” said Michalski, who missed the Tokyo Olympic team by one spot in ’21. He clipped the barrier with 300 to go, but stayed on his feet, continuing his surge and keying off Rooks all the way to the finish.
Rooks (8:26.58) crossed the line ahead of Michalski (8:26.77), while Keter (8:29.00) had just enough to hold off the fast-closing Wilkinson (8:29.32). Updike (8:30.15) stumbled coming out of the final water jump and wound up 5th.
Neither Michalski nor Keter have run the World Championships qualifying standard (8:15.00), so they will either need to chase the time in the coming weeks or hope their WA rankings receive enough of a boost to unlock spots in the Tokyo field. (Wilkinson and Updike both…
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