BYU alums Mantz, Young now Paris-bound after 1-2 finish at US Olympic marathon trials

ORLANDO, Fla. — Conner Mantz and Clayton Young metaphorically locked arms, and said, "Let's go to Paris."

And then at the finish line came an embrace like only teammates can hold.

The former BYU All-Americans and training partners with Utah's Run Elite Program finished first and second at U.S. Olympic marathon trials Saturday in Orlando, clinching a spot on the United States' squad for the Paris Summer Olympics.

Mantz broke the tape first, when the Nike-sponsored athlete finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 5 seconds while averaging a 4-minute, 56-second mile.

Young, who is sponsored by ASICS, was just behind in 2:09:06. Army Capt. Leonard Korir, a Nike athlete and 37-year-old naturalized citizen from Kenya, finished third in 2:09:06. His third-place finish should earn the third and final spot on the U.S. marathon team if he is ranked in the world top-80 rankings on May 5.

With his first-place finish, Mantz also unlocked an $80,000 bonus from the $600,000 allocated prize purse. Young earned $65,000 for finishing second, a week after he laughed and shrugged while several notable running media and broadcasters claimed he had "no chance" of finishing in the top three.

"That underdog mentality did me well. If you had me out of your top three, I'm in it now," he told NBC at the finish line, "I forgive you all."

But Young wasn't thinking of all the doubters during the race. Mainly, he was focused on his training, his breathing — and the teammate who he refused to leave, every step of the way, through the 26.2-mile road race around Orlando.

"About two miles out, I just knew that I wanted to finish it together," Young said. "Even though I might have been feeling better, I wanted to finish every step of the way with Conner. I wouldn't change it for the world; Conner is the one who has pulled me through this entire deal, every day in practice. He works hard, and he deserves this just as much as I do. But it was definitely a team effort."

Mantz was the pre-race favorite, and that's fine by Young. The two Utah natives who frequently train together under BYU coach Ed Eyestone in Utah County are used to pushing each other.

With every mile of the race, Mantz began thinking of the people who had helped get him there. Young was in that group, as was Eyestone, and Jared Ward, the former BYU standout and Run Elite co-founder who finished sixth in the marathon at the 2016 Summer Games. At the final mile, he thought of his wife Kylie, who was watching from the race sidelines with REP co-founder Landon Southwick.

But when the 27-year-old Logan native who turned pro in December 2021 didn't think he could go further, his college teammate picked him up.

"The last two miles, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish the race," Mantz told NBC after the race. "But Clayton said, 'just run behind me. Just stay together.' It meant a lot to say, OK, I can run with Clayton. I thought Clayton would pull away, but he said, 'no, I'm not going yet. Just run behind me.' It meant a lot to finish with him."

Hailing from a state of high-level distance runners, Mantz and Young are just the third and fourth BYU alums to qualify for the Olympic marathon. They join their coach, Eyestone, who finished 29th in Seoul, South Korea, in 1988 and 13th fourth years later in Barcelona, Spain; and Ward, who clocked a time of 2:11.30 for sixth overall in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

After earning the United States a pair of Olympic berths by posting standard times of 2:08:10 in Chicago, Mantz and Young jumped out front early and hung around the pack through the first half of the race, never falling beyond 20th place but also within a few seconds of the leader. That is, until the final six miles, when the Smithfield native and his fellow BYU alum began to kick.

Mantz pulled within a virtual dead-heat of Hansons-Brooks Distance Project athlete Zach Panning at the 23-mile mark, with Young less than a second behind the duo at the 1-hour, 52-minute mark.

A mile later, the American Fork High product who won the 10,000-meter national championship in 2019 surged to the front, just .14 seconds ahead of Mantz with two miles to go.

The duo stretched their lead to nearly a second with a mile remaining, with Young holding the slimmest edge by .21 seconds. A former two-time NCAA cross country champion, Mantz hit a punishing kick in the final mile, averaging a 4:56 mille and edging Young by 1.19 seconds.

"I've been crying for 20 minutes," an emotional Ward said near the finish line. "I don't think I've ever been happy at a finish line in all my years of racing; it was even better than I imagined when they crossed the line how we dreamed: one, two. It was amazing."

But the duo crossed the finish line virtually together, a one-two finish that clinched the two initial Team USA bids for Paris in this summer's games.

"The goal has always been to make an Olympic team. You never understand how much sacrifice comes with that," Mantz said. "I'm just really grateful to be out here, especially with my family, my coaches and teammates. I started going through every mile saying, 'I'm running this mile for my dad. I'm running this mile for my mom. I'm running this mile for Clayton and my old teammates out on the course cheering me on.' I ran the last mile for my wife. It just means a lot."

Former BYU runner Connor Weaver finished 13th with a time of 2:13:56, and Jacob Heslington was 21st in 2:15:12.

Puma athlete Fiona O'Keeffe won the U.S. women's trials in 2:22:10, followed by New Balance's Emily Sisson in 2:22:42.

Former BYU harrier Makenna Myler, who rose to fame four years ago after qualifying for the Olympic trials just seven months after giving birth to her daughter and finishing 14th, was seventh overall in 2:26:14.

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