Nine months ago, BYU sent a school-record seven current and former athletes to the Paris Olympics.
Among them was sophomore James Corrigan, a steeplechase runner who made his first trip outside the United States to compete on the world stage.
When asked about what he’s been up to since the Olympics, Corrigan quoted "The Incredibles" movie.
“Where are they now? They are living among us. Average citizens, average heroes quietly and anonymously continuing to make the world a better place,” he said.
That’s exactly what Corrigan is doing — adjusting to married life, switching majors from mechanical engineering to information systems, and working on developing a time management app.
Despite all of this, Corrigan says he is constantly reminded that his life is in fact not normal when “we’ll get a big box from Nike on our doorstep all of the sudden with a bunch of sweet gear.”
Corrigan is of course referring to his NIL deal with Nike which he signed last fall after the Olympics.
The Very Beginning
Corrigan has been running since elementary school, but was restricted to sprinting events only.
“This was not exactly his strength,” his father Brian Corrigan said.
In middle school, he joined the Students Run Los Angeles (SRLA) club where he ran the LA Marathon in both the seventh and eighth grade.
“It was after that experience that he realized he enjoyed distance running and was quite good at it,” Brian said.
Corrigan’s mother, grandpa and great uncle all ran track and cross country in high school. His three younger sisters have also followed suit.
In high school, Corrigan was one of the top high school distance runners in LA, but the COVID-19 pandemic canceled his senior season.
Freshman Year
After serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tempe, Arizona, Corrigan enrolled at BYU in fall 2022 with hopes of becoming a mile or 5K runner.
He hit the ground running — both literally and figuratively.
“His freshman year, he was less than a second away from qualifying for nationals in the 5K,” said former teammate and fellow steeplechase Olympian Kenneth Rooks.
Many took notice of his early success, but head coach Ed Eyestone — an Olympian himself — had another event in mind for Corrigan: the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The grueling race spans nearly two miles and includes 28 barriers and seven water jumps, which are more than 2-feet deep at their deepest point.
Unlike traditional hurdles, the barriers in the steeplechase are sturdier and heavier. If you run into one, you fall — not the other way around.
His thought process was simple.
“If you take one of your better runners and, rather than pigeonhole them in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter events, see if they can pick up hurdling technique as well, they might become a superstar — or, in James’ case, an Olympian,” Eyestone said.
Assistant coach Ryan Waite, a former 800-meter runner at BYU, called it “one of the most beautiful events in the sport” and said it requires “gut-wrenching toughness.”
Henry Marsh, a former BYU and Olympic steeplechase runner from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s, is no stranger to the event.
He says it’s nearly all about mechanics, technicality, efficiency, and how fluidly you can clear the barriers.
“My very first steeplechase at BYU, I fell in the water jump and hit a barrier,” Marsh said.
Marsh went on to have an incredible career as a steeplechase runner, qualifying for four Olympic Games, including the 1988 Games in Seoul, where he competed alongside Eyestone, who ran the marathon.
The Makings of a Steeplechaser
When a new freshman first comes to BYU, Eyestone often puts them through steeplechase drills to assess potential.
"In the steeplechase drills, James looked the best out of all those who were new to it. Coach Eyestone and I thought he had the most potential because he was in pretty good shape and had good hurdle form," Rooks said.
There were a few things about Corrigan that immediately jumped out to Eyestone and others as reasons why he might make a good steeplechase runner.
“His flexibility is really good. He moves well. He’s pretty elegant as a runner. He’s very very smooth in his stride and his back kick,” Eyestone said.
Another contributor was Corrigan’s ability to perform the L7 stretch which simulates going over a hurdle.
“He was very good at that and was able to reach and touch his toes comfortably,” Eyestone said.
The final indicator to Eyestone came in an unconventional way. It occurred in Eden, Utah, a small town with a population of no more than 1,000, where the team holds a team-building camp every year the week before school starts.
“One of the things we do up there is play softball. As distance runners, we’re all pretty bad, but usually the better athletes out there end up being your steeplechasers because they are a little bit more coordinated,” Eyestone said.
As coach Eyestone, or “Easy E” as some of his athletes like to call him, observed Corrigan out on the diamond, he quickly noticed how well he moved.
Corrigan’s performances in some of the open events were also a dead giveaway to Eyestone.
In the limited steeple races Corrigan competed in his freshman year, his times were closer to the nine-minute mark as he was still participating in other events like the mile and the 5K.
His fastest race as a freshman was 8:52.54 at the 2023 Bryan Clay Invitational, though he opened the year with a 9:11.37 at the Cardinal Classic.
“I wasn’t sure if James was gonna be a steeplechaser or not because he had done really good in some of the open events and had also looked good in cross country,” Rooks said.
In May of 2023, Corrigan ran a 4:01 mile. For some perspective, that was only 11 seconds slower than the collegiate record at the time set by Cooper Teare in 2021.
“I was killing it in the other events and I couldn’t help but think ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ at times,” Corrigan said
Going All In
Anytime Corrigan performed well in a different event, he’d get an earful from Eyestone and Waite.
"Just think how much this will help you in the steeplechase. Think how much better you’ll be now," Waite would jokingly say.
"If you can run 13:30 in the 5K (5,000 meters), just imagine how fast you’re going to be in the steeplechase," Eyestone would chime in. "His response to that was usually something like, 'Ugh, just let me enjoy being fast in the open events.'"
On the contrary, whenever he struggled in the steeplechase, his teammates would question him because they knew how good he was in the 5,000-meter race.
This persisted until one day, Corrigan finally gave in.
On a cold snowy day in the winter of 2024, he sat in Eyestone’s office on the couch across from coach’s desk and essentially said, “I’m all in. Let’s give it a shot and see how far we can take this.”
Corrigan had a similar conversation with Rooks.
"I’m going all in on the steeplechase this year so I can see how good I really am. If I’m all in and I don’t do well, then I know the steeple isn’t for me,” he told Rooks.
And so it began.
“I think James just trusted that there must be a reason why we kept pushing him towards the steeple. He didn’t necessarily understand all the reasons why, but he’s a coachable athlete who trusted us,” Waite said.
He may not have understood all the reasons why coaches kept pushing him toward the steeplechase, but he also didn’t want to have any regrets.
"I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. I didn’t want to have that nagging question of ‘what if?’ I had already started the event, and I knew that with how hard of an event it was, it wouldn’t be fair not to give it my full effort,” Corrigan said.
The Buildup
After this decision, Corrigan was dialed in, but it took him a few meets to really get going.
Corrigan opened the outdoor season at the Trojan Invitational in late March, running 8:50.58 in a small field of six competitors.
The following weekend at the Stanford Invitational, he shaved off four seconds, clocking 8:46.60. A month later, he set a personal best of 8:34.70 to finish fourth in his section at the Payton Jordan Invitational.
According to Eyestone, the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas, marked Corrigan’s breakout performance.
In a race delayed by lightning, Corrigan sparked his own storm, finishing with a standout time of 8:29.24.
The result not only earned him BYU’s first Big 12 men’s individual track and field title but also broke the conference meet record of 8:32.59.
“That Big 12 meet is when he really showed some star power,” Eyestone said. “He went up against a couple of really strong international runners — namely Victor Shitsama from Oklahoma State, who’s from Kenya — and then just dropped the boom on them in the last 400 meters.”
Corrigan narrowly defeated Shitsama by less than a second.
Next up were the NCAA Regional and Championship meets, held in late May in Arkansas and early June in Eugene, Oregon.
Although they ran in separate heats, Shitsama got his revenge on Corrigan in Arkansas, ultimately beating him by 1.66 seconds.
Despite running nearly identical times, Corrigan won his heat in the NCAA Championships preliminaries with a time of 8:28.84 but finished ninth in the finals with a time of 8:29.61.
“He looked awesome in the prelim, but then was a little tired two days later in the final. He was a little disappointed with that,” Eyestone said.
But Corrigan had come a long way from the 2023 Cardinal Classic, his freshman year, when he ran 9:11.37 in his first steeplechase ever.
Corrigan’s summer of running was far from over, though.
Olympic Trials First Round
No one could have predicted what would come next for James Corrigan.
There was a two-week break between the NCAA Championships and the U.S. Olympic Trials. During this time, Corrigan and Rooks were able to work out together a few times.
"I had been dealing with some injuries off and on from March to May, so our steeple workouts didn’t align much. We’d only done a few workouts together up to that point," Rooks said.
In one of their combined workouts, on the final rep, Corrigan passed Rooks. Rooks tried to catch up but couldn’t.
That’s when he realized Corrigan had the potential to do something special.
He told Corrigan, "James, if you can do that in a workout, you should be able to run the 3,000-meter steeplechase in under 8:20."
“I was a little bit afraid that it had shaken Kenneth’s confidence in himself. Most people would be mad, but Kenny was very gracious about it,” Eyestone said.
Rooks' mentorship and example has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated by Corrigan.
“He’s humble, kind, and down to earth yet he’s also at the top of the game. He’s shown me that you don’t have to have the same characteristics or personality traits that some of the other competitors have,” Corrigan said.
Rooks was no doubt surprised by Corrigan’s performance in their combined workout.
"I realized then that James was in really good shape. He ran an 8:29 at the NCAA Championships, and I knew he could run at least ten seconds faster than that in the Olympic Trials," Rooks added.
Corrigan didn’t quite manage to trim 10 seconds off his NCAA Championships time, but he did clock another personal best, running 8:21.22 in the first round to finish second behind professional runner Matthew Wilkinson.
Here's the finish to the race posted by Dr. Seth Jenny on YouTube.
Corrigan tied for second with Nathan Mountain of the University of Virginia.
Olympic Trials Final
That performance propelled him into the final, where he faced some of the fastest runners in the country, including American record holder Evan Jager, several Olympians, and his former BYU teammate, Rooks.
“It was a little scary having to turn around and race again two days later because you don’t typically do that very often,” Corrigan said. “But since I was more of an underdog, I felt less pressure.”
That underdog status worked in his favor. Corrigan surged late to beat Jager for third place, finishing with a time of 8:26.78 behind Rooks and Wilkinson.
Sitting in sixth place with one lap to go, Corrigan moved up to third in the final 100 meters.
For someone who had fully committed to the steeplechase only six months earlier, few — including coaches — expected Corrigan to finish as well as he did.
“LOOK AT JAMES” 😮
— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) June 24, 2024
(VIA Todd Garner) pic.twitter.com/ugpYLzgKxU
Corrigan even surprised himself. Running with some of the best in the world, he could not believe what he had just done.
To see him pass multiple runners in the final 400 meters and place third was mind-blowing, according to James’ father Brian.
“I wasn’t expecting him to be top three. I don’t think anybody really was,” said Rooks, who took first by a somewhat wide margin in the event.
A few weeks before the race, Rooks recalled some of his BYU teammates jokingly asking him, “What would it take for James to make it to the Olympics?”
Rooks had responded, “Even if he finishes top three, he won’t have enough ranking points to qualify unless we run under the Olympic standard.”
As fate would have it, that’s exactly what ended up happening.
But when Corrigan did it, Rooks was overjoyed.
“When it happened, I was so excited for him,” he said. “It was such a cool feeling to turn around and see him cross the finish line and for him to be like, ‘I got third! I got third!’”
Just one year earlier, as college teammates, Corrigan had finished first and Rooks third at the NCAA cross-country nationals. They had a similar exchange — only the roles were reversed, making the moment even sweeter for Corrigan.
"It was really special," Corrigan said.
The Aftermath
Traditionally, the top three finishers at the Olympic Trials earn automatic bids to the Games. With that in mind, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Rooks, Wilkinson and Corrigan would be headed to Paris — so much so that, amid the commotion, NBC Sports reporter Lewis Johnson suggested it in the post-race interview.
He congratulated Wilkinson and then turned to Corrigan, saying, “And you’ll be going to your first Olympic Games as well.”
But two hurdles Rooks had foreseen just weeks earlier still stood in Corrigan's way: He had not yet met the Olympic qualifying standard of 8:15, and his world ranking wasn't high enough.
Rooks and Wilkinson, ranked No. 24 and No. 36 in the world, respectively, were eligible for Olympic selection even without running sub-8:15, as the top 36 globally in the steeplechase are invited.
Corrigan, however, was ranked No. 82, and his fastest time to date — an 8:21.22 in the first round of the Trials just days earlier — was still six seconds shy of the Olympic qualifying standard.
There was still work to do — and not much time to do it. The deadline to officially qualify for Team USA was just one week after the Trials final on June 30.
Finding the right opportunity
The joyous celebrations quickly turned into a frenzy of phone calls around the world, all in search of one more opportunity for Corrigan to qualify.
“We knew pretty soon after the race that James would be running another race in less than a week. We’ll celebrate now, but we need to recover,” Rooks said.
Enter Aaron Robison. For those unfamiliar with the name, the Robison family is to BYU track and field what the Kaufusi family is to BYU football — perhaps even more so.
Aaron competed for BYU in the 2000s. His father, Mark Robison, also ran for the Cougars and later coached at BYU for more than 35 years. His grandfather, Clarence Robison, led the program for nearly four decades during the mid-to-late 1900s, helping build the foundation of BYU’s track and field legacy.
Aaron bounced around after his time at BYU but landed a job as the director of the Penn Relays in late 2021.
The 2024 Penn Relays Summer Showcase was scheduled for June 29, the day before the deadline, but the steeplechase wasn’t initially part of the event. That was an easy fix, said Eyestone.
The real challenge was ensuring it became a World Athletics-certified event.
Waite, a friend of Aaron’s and a fellow fantasy football league opponent, shared that months earlier, Aaron said he felt a distinct impression from the Holy Ghost to make the steeplechase a World Athletics-certified event.
Though he didn’t know why at the time, he followed through with it anyway believing that the event may come in handy for some international runners.
“We can honestly say we saw the hand of the Lord in multiple instances of how that race unfolded and counted as an Olympic qualifier,” Waite said.
This would be Corrigan’s third race in eight days — a remarkable feat in itself— but he had no other option.
Additionally, his wedding was just six days later on July 5.
“We canceled our honeymoon and prepped for the Olympics instead,” Corrigan said.
The Penn Relays
Corrigan, his coaches, and others flew directly from the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, to Philadelphia for a final effort to run an 8:15 or faster in the steeplechase.
“My heart ached for him, knowing that he would have to run another high-pressure race after having already raved so much that season,” Corrigan’s father said.
It was a five-man race, and the BYU coaching staff asked Dan Michalski — who had also competed in the Olympic Trials just one week prior, but, unlike Corrigan, did not advance to the final — to be Corrigan’s pacer.
Rooks was also lined up to pace Corrigan but decided against it the morning of the race due to lingering foot pain in the latter half of the week.
At the starting line, Corrigan gave the crowd two big thumbs up.
It was now or never. There was no hiding in the background or being overlooked as an underdog, as he had in past races. Corrigan was the main event. Nearly everyone in attendance was there for him.
“Most races I don’t hear a thing. This race, I could hear everybody,” Corrigan said.
“There was definitely a lot of weight on his shoulders that night with people all over the country watching from home to see if he could do what some thought was nearly impossible,” Corrigan’s father said.
Early in the race, Corrigan realized he was actually going to do it.
“A mile into the race, when we were one second under our target pace, I said out loud, ‘I’m going to the Olympics,’” Corrigan said.
He continued to run strong, thanks to the help of his pacer, Michalski, who wore the same pink and orange Nike shoes and exited the track at the 5:30 mark.
With 2.5 laps remaining, it was all up to Corrigan.
All throughout the race, Rooks, wearing a white hat, pink shirt, and neon shoes, and Eyestone, in a white BYU polo and royal blue BYU hat, crossed back and forth through the football field to encourage James.
“He ran past me with two laps to go, and all he needed to do was complete the remaining distance in two minutes and 10 seconds to hit 8:15. I knew James could do that,” Rooks said.
Rooks was also there when Corrigan began his last lap.
"With a lap to go, I couldn’t contain myself," Corrigan said.
“He smiled, realizing all he had to do was run the last lap in 65 seconds, and he knew he could do it even faster,” Rooks said.
With 15 seconds remaining until the Olympic standard, Corrigan had reached the final straightaway with the finish line in sight.
He got over the last hurdle with 11 seconds remaining.
"Coming down the home stretch, not even having crossed the line yet, I pointed to the clock for a second like, 'Can you guys believe this?!' Then I crossed and was just so elated. It was the best feeling ever," Corrigan said.
He jumped into Mihalski’s outstretched arms and was soon joined by fellow racer Yasin Sado, a University of Virginia athlete, who finished four seconds behind him.
Eyestone and Rooks came swarming in after that. Others were on site as well.
“When he crossed the finish line, I cried tears of joy. I broke down in tears immediately. There was just no words to describe how proud I was. The magnitude of what he had just done really hit me,” Waite said.
When Corrigan crossed the finish line on June 29 and officially secured his Olympic berth, his wife, Ashley, wearing a navy blue "Team Corrigan" shirt, wasn’t surprised.
“That race was set up so perfectly,” she said. “There was a pacer — and it’s rare to have a race where you can just hit times and not worry about strategy. I knew he could do it.”
“Dan did the greatest pacing job I think I’ve ever witnessed,” James said.
Corrigan’s 8:13.87 at the Penn Relays Summer Showcase, which qualified him for the Olympics, was the fastest steeplechase time ever by a U.S. collegiate athlete, including Kenneth Rooks.
“I’m so happy he broke my school record, and I’m glad I was able to be there to see it,” Rooks said. “Everything worked out exactly as it needed to.”
HE CAN’T BE STOPPED 😤
— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) June 30, 2024
School record ✅
Olympic standard ✅
Punched his ticket to Paris ✅ pic.twitter.com/9iNyLX4Y3H
Just 99 days earlier, Corrigan’s fastest time on record was 8:50.58. Now, he was headed to the Olympics.
Immediately after the race, still catching his breath and sipping from a water bottle, Corrigan told FloTrack, “It’s a dream come true to represent Team USA. I’m so excited to represent the nation.”
Fortunately, the mayhem was finally over — at least at that point. Corrigan, along with Rooks, spent the following week speaking with various local news outlets.
Rooks didn’t hesitate to praise Corrigan during their celebratory media tour.
“Running the Olympic standard less than a week after running the best race of your life is not an easy thing to do,” Rooks said several days after the Penn Relays.
Corrigan, however, knew where his success came from.
“Surrounding yourself with great people leads to great things and shifts your perception of what’s possible for yourself,” he said.
Corrigan also managed to squeeze in a wedding — his own — during the brief time off.
Paris
The pair had about 37 days to prepare for their races in the Paris Olympics, though the opening ceremony came sooner.
They left Provo on July 24 and trained in Switzerland to escape the hustle and bustle of Paris.
“It was just what I needed before the Games to really calm down and get away from all the craziness. It was really peaceful,” Corrigan said.
Leading up to the Games, Corrigan was starstruck as he rubbed shoulders with LeBron James, Simone Biles and many others.
At this point in the year, Corrigan had run more than 10 steeplechase races, including three in eight days in late June.
On top of the running, travel from Eugene, Oregon, to Philadelphia, then back to Provo for a few weeks, followed by trips to Switzerland and France, had also taken its toll on Corrigan.
“I was so exhausted by that point. I tried my best, but definitely wasn’t firing on all cylinders,” Corrigan said.
“He was definitely focused going into the Games, but I think he was also a bit worn out from the big races leading up to the Olympics, as well as other life changes, like getting married and moving,” Eyestone said.
Even for Corrigan’s family it was a lot.
“We traveled to Oregon twice, first for NCAAs and then for the Olympic Trials two weeks later … My wife and I (then) caught a red-eye to Philadelphia where we watched him compete and ultimately make the Olympic team. It was a whirlwind,” Brian Corrigan said.
James Corrigan placed 10th in his heat in the first round with a time of 8:36.67 and did not advance to the final, but it’s deeper than just running for James.
“I want to build a platform where I can share things that are important to me to help others. The faster I am, the more people will pay attention to me,” Corrigan said.
There’s a spiritual side to it as well. Corrigan often goes live on Instagram for scripture studies and Q&A sessions on various topics.
“I’ve made sacred promises with God to consecrate my talents and one of them is my ability to run fast. I feel obligated to turn my talent into something that can help build God’s kingdom," Corrigan said.
“That’s just who James is,” Corrigan’s father said.
Despite the result, it was still a momentous couple of days for Corrigan and his family.
“It’s difficult to describe the emotion you feel as you’re sitting in a stadium of 80,000 people from all over the world, watching the greatest athletes in the world compete, and then your son comes trotting out wearing the ‘USA’ across his chest,” said Corrigan’s father.
Rooks, however, did advance and went on to win the silver medal behind defending gold medalist Soufiane El Bakkali in an incredibly tight race.
Rooks held the lead for most of the final lap until El Bakkali surged ahead with 15 seconds remaining. El Bakkali won the gold by 0.36 seconds.
“James didn't make it to the final, but neither did Wilkinson, who finished second at the Olympic Trials. It’s very difficult to make it to the final, but I think he did pick up some very important, much-needed experience,” Eyestone said.
Proud of our guy @frisb_runner for all his hard work qualifying and competing at the Olympics 🤙 pic.twitter.com/UB75HxTtWN
— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) August 5, 2024
“I think he was one of the youngest guys in the steeplechase at the Olympics,” he added.
Almost anyone you talk to will say that Corrigan simply making the Olympics is a marvel in itself — and one that should be celebrated. And they’re right.
“We never could have imagined that he would go from a relatively inexperienced steeplechase athlete to an Olympian, all in the span of a season,” Corrigan’s father said.
Returning Home
After the Olympics, Corrigan technically could have signed a pro contract, but decided against it because he felt like it was the best thing for him.
“I still have a lot to prove and I can raise my stock a little more with at least another year in college,” said Corrigan.
Cross country season began a week after the Olympics, but Corrigan joined late for obvious reasons.
“He was already running out of gas by the end of the summer, but he was able to come on late and help us secure both the Big 12 title and the national championship,” Eyestone said.
Corrigan was hampered by a lingering illness from late November to mid-March, but it didn’t stop him from competing during the indoor season.
The Cougars opened up their indoor season at the Husky Classic in Seattle Washington where Corrigan set a new PR in the 3000 meter with a time of 8:02.04.
At the Big 12 Indoor Championships in late February, he raced in the 3,000 meters and the distance medley relay, though he didn’t perform as well as he had hoped, coming off a personal best just two weeks prior.
“Coming off being sick and not feeling as ready for anything as I would’ve liked is hard, but I’m glad I was able to still run and compete with my teammates,” he wrote on Instagram in early March.
While recovering and since returning from the Olympics, Corrigan has taken on a larger leadership role at the request of his coaches — mentoring younger teammates and setting an example both on and off the track.
That influence was clear at the outdoor season opener — the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Arizona, in late March — where Corrigan won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:43.57, followed closely by freshman Isaac Hedengren, who finished in 8:44.01.
Eyestone said before the race that he planned to have Corrigan ease into the season by helping pace the younger runners.
“I’m gonna have him run a sub-maximal effort to just kind of mother these guys through their first steeplechase because it is such a different event,” Eyestone said. “He’ll probably do that for two-thirds of the race and then I’ll just let him send it the last third. It’ll be a good opener for everybody.”
And it was.
Corrigan not only took the win but also broke a 21-year-old stadium record. Three other BYU athletes finished in the top six — a reflection of the team’s depth and Corrigan’s growing impact.
“Saying that he’s a mentor is kind of funny though,” Eyestone added, “because even he’s still a young, footloose, fancy-free sort of guy anyway.”
Waite offered similar sentiments.
“James is so young and pure. He has an unwavering, unbridled sense of belief and optimism. I hope he never loses it,” he said.
Eyestone mentioned Corrigan's battle with illness during the indoor season.
"As soon as we started outdoor steeplechase workouts a couple of weeks ago, he was suddenly back to his old self. I probably should have pulled out the hurdles a few months earlier," Eyestone joked.
Finally healthy, Corrigan continued his strong outdoor season at the Stanford Invitational in early April, where he set a personal best in the 5,000 meters. He finished seventh overall in 13:27.39 — nearly 13 seconds faster than his previous mark.
Corrigan was fortunate to return home to Southern California for his 23rd birthday on April 16, competing in the Bryan Clay Invitational just 20 minutes from where he grew up.
It was his third overall appearance at the meet.
As a freshman, he ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase, clocking a time of 8:52.54. In his sophomore year, he raced the 5,000 meters and finished in 13:47.21.
This time, in 2025, he stepped down in distance to run the 1,500 meters.
"I’m trying to race above and below my primary event because it's good race stimulus," he said.
The Brian Clay Invitational was held right at the end of the semester for Corrigan.
In addition to racing, "I was definitely taking a final or two or writing a paper, doing the classic end-of-semester grind," Corrigan said.
Finding Balance
Corrigan may not agree, but being a student athlete is a full-time job.
“I don’t think of it as a full-time job, but the time I dedicate to it would probably say otherwise,” he said.
The average day for Corrigan usually begins with a five mile run first thing in the morning.
He’ll then have breakfast and head to school for the day.
After classes, he goes straight to the track for a long team workout. By the end of it all, it’s dinner time around eight o’clock and he still has mounds of homework to do.
“Some of those days can be really long, but I understand that and eventually it becomes normal for me,” Corrigan said.
Ramping Back Up
Similar to last spring/summer, things will really pick up for Corrigan over the next few months.
The BYU Robison Invitational is scheduled for late April into early May.
The Cougars will then head to Lawrence, Kansas, for the outdoor Big 12 Championships, where Corrigan will look to replicate last year’s performance, when he won the steeplechase event.
Two weeks later, they’ll compete at Regionals in College Station.
The season will conclude with the NCAA National Championships in Eugene. Last year, Corrigan took first in the prelims, but then fizzled out to 9th in the finals two days later.
To his credit, it was the first time in his career running a preliminary round to advance, which proved to be a challenge for Corrigan as it was something he had never done before.
He will look to do better this year, as the NCAA Championships will likely be his final event before the U.S. Championships in early August.
“He’ll need to be running at his very best in June so he’s ready to perform well enough to make the World Championships in September,” Eyestone said.
The U.S. Championships will be crucial for athletes like Corrigan who are aiming to qualify for the World Championships, scheduled for Sept. 13–21 in Tokyo.
The top two to three finishers at the U.S. Championships — provided they have met the World Athletics qualifying standards or are within the ranking quota — will earn spots on Team USA for Tokyo.
Just two years ago, during Corrigan’s freshman year, Rooks famously fell during the U.S. Championships but made a remarkable comeback to win the event and secure his spot at the World Championships in Budapest.
"I was at the team watch party, and we saw him go down, but then it went to commercial. We were bummed," Corrigan said, reflecting on that race.
"All of a sudden, it came back from commercial, and we saw that he had caught up to the pack. He started working his way up, and we all got more and more excited because we knew that, despite anything that happened, if Kenneth was still in reach by the end of the race, he had the best kick out of anybody," Corrigan continued.
Sure enough, Rooks outkicked everyone in the final 200 meters and went viral for his inspiring comeback victory.
In his post-race interview on NBC Sports, Rooks told Lewis Johnson that after falling, he told himself he needed “to go into Henry Marsh mode.”
Marsh, the former Cougar now in his 70s, was known for racing conservatively, often staying near the back of the pack until the final lap, where he would surge from last place to first in a matter of seconds.
2028
There is a lot more running ahead for the pair of Olympian steeplechasers.
“It’s hard for me to say what James’ ceiling is after what he did last summer,” Rooks said.
Both Rooks and Corrigan plan to compete in the U.S. Championships with hopes of qualifying for the World Championships in September.
Beyond that, they also intend to compete at the 2028 Olympics, which will be held in Corrigan’s hometown of Los Angeles.
“We’re thrilled the Olympics are coming to L.A. in 2028,” Corrigan’s father said. “The idea of James competing on the world stage just minutes from home — people here would go bananas if he made the team again.”
That’s a long way off, though, and “to a certain extent, he and I are both still trying to figure out how to be an Olympian,” Rooks said.
For the most part, life is back to normal for James Corrigan — at least for now. That’s about to change, though, as he and his wife prepare to welcome their first child while he also competes for a spot on the global stage once again later this fall.
Like laps on a track, it never ends for Corrigan, but he’s grateful for it all.