PARIS – BYU alum Kenneth Rooks and current Cougar star James Corrigan made their Olympic debuts in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with mixed results on Monday at Stade De France.
Rooks qualified for the finals as he finished second in his heat with a time of 8 minutes and 24 seconds.
“[Rooks] is renowned for his determination and his comeback [at U.S. Track Championships],” said Leigh Diffey on the broadcast of the race. “He is a bit of a rockstar at BYU. They love him.”
The former Cougar started the race in third and stayed there until the second-to-last lap where he dropped to fourth. As the bell rang to signify the final lap, Rooks hit the gas to catch up to Simon Koech of Kenya where they crossed the finish line at the same time.
After taking a closer look,officials determined that Rooks crossed the finish line before Koech, giving him the second-place finish going into the finals.
Corrigan, a sophomore, made his Olympic debut in the first heat with an 8 minute, 36 second run, landing him in 10th in the heat.
“This is such an incredible story. I really can’t get over it,” two-time Olympian Kara Goucher said during the broadcast of the race.
“Coming off his sophomore year at BYU, going from being a pretty good collegiate steeplechaser to becoming an Olympian this year,” Goucher said. “He is the only American who actually ran under the Olympic standard this year. He has shown so much heart and guts.”
Corrigan came into the race ranked 61st in the world with a personal best of 8:13.87, after shaving 39 seconds off his race times this year to qualify for the Olympics, setting new personal records in every meet he raced in.
Rooks will continue his Olympic journey with the final race scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 7 at 1:43 pm MDT.