Will the US Olympic marathon team run through Utah?

PROVO — Conner Mantz is one of the fiercest competitors in men's professional distance events in the United States, famously bringing opponents into "the Mantz zone" characterized by pain and a brutal pace before pulling away against his overmatched competition.

But away from the track or the course, the former BYU star is anything-but.

"Conner's one of the nicest guys in the world," said fellow BYU alum Jared Ward, a co-founder of Run Elite Program that helps train Mantz and other local distance standouts. "But he's motivated to run hard, and that's what makes him tick. It's an experience to work out next to him, because he is working hard every single day."

Mantz will follow the Mantz zone into the U.S. Olympic marathon trials Saturday morning in Orlando, Florida, where he is considered one of the favorites to clinch one of two qualified spots for the United States' marathon team at the Paris Summer Games (8:10 a.m. MST, Peacock).

The Smithfield native won't be alone, though. The field of contenders at the trials is loaded with talent from Utah, including five former BYU harriers.

Mantz, the two-time national champion in cross country who prepped at Sky View, and Clayton Young, the 2019 national champ in the 10,000-meter from American Fork, are the headliners. Mantz enters the race as the top seed after clocking an Olympic standard time of 2:07:47 to finish as the top American (sixth overall) at the Chicago Marathon back in October.

Young immediately followed his Run Elite Program teammate in 2:08:00 to finish seventh, clinching two marathon berths for the United States in Paris.

The group also includes former BYU standouts Nico Montanez, Jacob Heslington and Connor Weaver who will hope to add to BYU's legacy of Olympic marathoners. That list currently includes two: current men's track and field and cross country head coach Ed Eyestone, who finished 13th overall in Barcelona in 1992; and Ward, who finished sixth in a time of 2:11.30 at the Rio De Janeiro Summer Games in 2016.

"Conner and Clayton have done more mileage in preparation for this race and the quality of their speed, tempo and marathon pace work has been unsurpassed," said Eyestone, who traveled to Orlando as Mantz and Young's professional coach. "Their build up for this race has been better than their build up for the Chicago Marathon where they posted the fastest two times of the year for Americans, so I am very excited at the prospects of a very successful day on Saturday. Overall, I'm optimistic about the opportunity for great things to happen this weekend."

The Utah contingent also includes Riley Cook, the Ogden marathon champion, former Weber State harrier and first-time Olympic trials qualifier who is one of the oldest competitors in the field at 42 years old.

"I was a middle distance runner in college and graduated with an honest hatred for running," said Cook, an operations research analyst who runs for Tracksmith, on his Olympic trials bio, before adding he regained his love for the sport through a variety of local races and training opportunities.

Even though Mantz and Young set the Olympic standard in Chicago, the duo did not clinch those spots in Paris.

The World Athletics organization opted to award "quota positions" to countries based on the number of athletes who could clinch the standard (2:08:10 for the men's race), so the U.S. quota will be filled by the top-two finishers in this weekend's trials — and potentially a third, if an athlete unlocks another Olympic standard time or is ranked in the top 80 in the World Marathon list by April 30.

If a third spot is unlocked, that spot would be reallocated to the third-place finisher at the trials — making Saturday's trials not just a time trial, but also a competitive road race — that counts as a qualifier.

"It's a very straight-forward sport, but we sometimes make the qualification procedures complicated," Ward said on ESPN radio in Utah County. "The Olympics have come up with a system where countries earn spots, but athletes earn spots for their country. So it's based on a system of automatic qualifiers on time, which is what Conner and Clayton did, and a system of rankings ... which we'll know in May."

Then there's also the roughly $600,000 in total prize money, as well.

"Entering the race as the favorite is exciting, but I like to keep in mind that anything can happen in the race so I can't get complacent," Mantz said. "I'm looking forward to this race a lot because I think it will be a good way to show appreciation to all the many family members, coaches, trainers and friends for their sacrifice in helping me get here."

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