Sam Chelanga placed 7th in the Olympic Trials men's 10K, 14 years after winning the NCAA title in the event.
Chelanga, Waters Excel on U.S. Olympic Trials’ Opening Night
6/21/2024 11:57:00 PM | Track and Field
EUGENE, Ore. – A pair of Liberty alumni recorded impressive performances on Friday, the opening day of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field at Hayward Field. Sam Chelanga recorded his third career top-10 finish in the men's 10K final (seventh place), while Carson Waters successfully advanced to Sunday's men's pole vault final.
Chelanga improbably took the lead late in the race before the 39-year-old ended up seventh with a season-best time of 28:04.36. He finished 12 seconds behind Northern Arizona's Nico Young, the race's third and final qualifier to the Summer Olympics in Paris. Incidentally, it was Young (just 21 years of age) who broke Chelanga's NCAA men's 10K record of 27:08.39 that had stood since 2010 earlier this season.
Chelanga is now three-for-three in posting top-10 finishes in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials men's 10K final. The 2011 Liberty graduate and member of the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame previously came in sixth in 2016 and eighth in 2021. Friday's race took place at the same location as one of his four NCAA Division I national titles, the 2010 men's 10K contested at the old Hayward Field.
Waters, who finished his time with the Flames in 2018 as a four-time Big South men's pole vault champion, is heading to his second U.S. Olympic Team Trials men's pole vault final. The native of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., successfully qualified from Friday's prelims thanks to a clutch third-attempt clearance at 18-6.5, Waters' best effort of the 2024 outdoor season to date.
Waters will be one of 13 men pole vaulting for a trip to Paris during Sunday's final, set for 8:40 p.m. Eastern on Peacock. Waters previously came in 11th in the men's pole vault final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials three years ago at Hayward Field.
Chelanga improbably took the lead late in the race before the 39-year-old ended up seventh with a season-best time of 28:04.36. He finished 12 seconds behind Northern Arizona's Nico Young, the race's third and final qualifier to the Summer Olympics in Paris. Incidentally, it was Young (just 21 years of age) who broke Chelanga's NCAA men's 10K record of 27:08.39 that had stood since 2010 earlier this season.
Chelanga is now three-for-three in posting top-10 finishes in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials men's 10K final. The 2011 Liberty graduate and member of the Liberty Athletics Hall of Fame previously came in sixth in 2016 and eighth in 2021. Friday's race took place at the same location as one of his four NCAA Division I national titles, the 2010 men's 10K contested at the old Hayward Field.
Waters, who finished his time with the Flames in 2018 as a four-time Big South men's pole vault champion, is heading to his second U.S. Olympic Team Trials men's pole vault final. The native of St. Petersburg Beach, Fla., successfully qualified from Friday's prelims thanks to a clutch third-attempt clearance at 18-6.5, Waters' best effort of the 2024 outdoor season to date.
Waters will be one of 13 men pole vaulting for a trip to Paris during Sunday's final, set for 8:40 p.m. Eastern on Peacock. Waters previously came in 11th in the men's pole vault final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials three years ago at Hayward Field.
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