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SALT LAKE CITY — Abraham Alvarado never made the California state meet in high school, but the former BYU 800-meter specialist is one race away from qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
Alvarado finished fourth in 1 minute, 44.44 seconds at the 800-meter semifinal Friday at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, a fourth-place finish that advanced him to Saturday's final.
The former two-time Division II national runner-up at Cal State Stanislaus who finished the final two seasons of his collegiate career at BYU in 2017-18 was a two-time All-American in track and field. During his time in Provo, he advanced to the semifinals of the 2016 Olympic trials.
But after a second-place finish at the U.S. indoor championships in February, the 28-year-old Alvarado may be peaking at the right time.
Alvarado's Olympic standard-qualifying time earned a spot in the final on time (the top two in each heat advanced to the finals).
His semifinal mark was behind North American U20 record holder Hobbs Kessler (1:43.71), former Texas A&M standout Brandon Miller (1:43.73) and reigning world champion Bryce Hoppel (1:44.01).
"The whole second lap was really hard, but I'm glad I hung tough," said Kessler, who ran a negative final split en route to a personal-best mark. "I didn't want to leave anything on the table. I also didn't know if they were other people coming. Happy for today, but ready for the final."
More scenes from Eugene 😍 pic.twitter.com/UaWuFDpTsh
— BYU Track & Field/Cross Country (@BYUTFXC) June 29, 2024
Former BYU national champion Anna Camp-Bennett, the Millard High grad who runs professionally for adidas and Utah's Run Elite Program, finished 13th in the 1500M semifinals in 4:05.62 — a season-best that was .26 from advancing to Sunday's finals.
Utah Valley's Kelsi Oldroyd, who became the first active athlete in school history to advance to the U.S. Olympic trials, finished 14th in the first round of the javelin throw. Her final mark of 51.22 meters (168–0) was 1.5 feet from advancing.
BYU freshman Alysa Keller threw for 47.72 meters (156-7) for 23rd in her first Olympic trials as a collegian.
Alvarado is one of just two athletes from Utah that will compete in the final days of the trials, with BYU All-American Dallin Shorts in the men's discus final Sunday.
On the national level, eyes will turn this weekend toward Noah Lyles, who will attempt to qualify for the 200-meter after the top-seeded Adidas athlete advanced to the final with a 19.60 first-place semifinal finish.
But all eyes in Utah track and field will turn Saturday towards Philadelphia, where BYU's James Corrigan will chase an Olympic standard or enough points in the World Athletics Rankings to clinch a berth for Team USA in the Paris.
The BYU sophomore finished third in the Olympic trials last week with a personal-best time of 8:21.22. His coach Ed Eyestone then arranged for a 3,000-meter steeplechase to be run at the Penn Relays Summer Showcase this weekend — with training partner and soon-to-be Olympian Kenneth Rooks among his pace-setters in the race — with eyes on achieving the Olympic standard of 8:15.00.
"I feel so confident knowing that I have Kenny helping me out, and the backing of so many people," Corrigan told BYUtv. "I'm super excited to chase the standard. There are two options; one is chasing the standard, which is the safest point. But the ranking points, we can have some leeway there."
The race will be streamed Saturday night on the FloTrack YouTube page.
