2 High Schoolers Make USA Men’s Tokyo Olympic Track Team!

This will be the buzz in the late evening on June 27, 2021, when the Olympic Trials for Track and Field come to a close.  After all the craziness track fans have endured for the past year and a half, here we are.  A beautifully modernized venue awaits; the hallowed ground that is Hayward Field.  Track Town USA!  

Quite a step up from the spectator less time trials run on high school tracks, filmed then posted to YouTube.  No more watching Matthew Centrowitz, all spiked-up, run a 3 x 800m workout or watch Craig Engels float through a 2 x 5,000m workout after racing a 1500m. 

To borrow lines from the Bugs Bunny Theme, “This is it, the night of nights.  No more rehearsing and nursing a part…On with the show this is it”!

I am so excited for these trials.  So here we are less than a week away from the Olympic Track and Field Trials.   For the first time since 1976, two high school men’s track athletes have a shot to make the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Team headed to Tokyo in July.  That hasn’t been done in 45 years and now we have an opportunity to see if one middle distance runner and one sprinter can make it happen once again.

Not since the Summer of 1976 has a high school age male sprinter made an Olympic team.  In 1976 two athletes made the men’s team.  Dwayne Evans won a Bronze medal in the 200m and Johnny “Lam” Jones won a Gold medal as part of the men’s 4 x 100m relay team.  

Now a 17-year-old from Florida has a real chance to make Team USA in the 200m.  Erriyon Knighton turned pro in January 2021, and he is fast, real fast.  Faster than Usain Bolt at the same age.  So, what does that mean?  Well, nothing really.  One of the many beautiful things about track and field is the absolute objectivity of the sport.  So, he has to prove it on the track, no doubt.  But I think he can.  This year the men’s 200m event is tough.  Maybe one of the toughest events of the trials.  Attempting to make the team is the reigning World Champion, a collegian who happens to be the world leader, and others faster than Erriyon to be sure.  He will need some things to go his way.  He needs favorable heat draws, good sprinting weather, and some luck.  This is “Big Boy” racing but, if he can improve every round, keep his head, and not let the moment be too big, he has a great shot.  I know I’ll be rooting for him.  Best of luck young man!

Now the race that is near and dear to my heart will always be the metric mile, the 1500m.  The premiere race of any track meet.  Now, I never raced a 1500m, but have raced many mile run races and I am pretty sure the tactics translate well to the 1500m.  This race I know.  There has been so much posturing in this event that it’s so difficult to predict who will make the team.  The pros not wanting to show their hand.  The college kids have been racing at a high level since March so very tough to gauge how long they can hold their peak.  Will it be three pros, or will the college kids continue running well into the trials, or will an athlete that is neither sneak in?  In my opinion, yes, yes, and yes.  From what I have seen this season it looks like one pro, one college runner, and one high school runner will be our men’s 1500m Olympic team.

Here’s what I see.  Centro is still defending champ and remember he was a Duck also.  Great tactician and very race savvy.  Super hard to know his readiness level, but I think big race experience means a lot here, for him. Weather conditions he’s used to so no worry there.  And he is running with a chip on his shoulder.  

Cole Hocker, I know has raced his ass off this year.  Hocker races with toughness and is physically strong and stupid fast in the home straight.  The way he held off Nuguse in the recent NCAA 1500m final proves that. He will get a big bounce from the Eugene home cookin’.  I know he lost to Nuguse earlier this year on this track but look how that loss motivated him.  Sometimes we need a rival to drive us to greater heights. Hocker is so tough, and he has a look that tells me he has learned a lot from his races with Nuguse.  

Not since Jim Ryan made the 1964 Olympic team as a 17-year-old has a high school age middle-distance runner made a men’s Olympic track team.  So, there is precedence.  I understand it is a long shot but please let me share some thoughts about Hobbs Kessler.

• Super-fast high school kid.
• Maybe under raced, but certainly not over raced at this level.  
• 2 rounds before the final may take some pop out of his legs, but hell he’s 18 years old, he can recover.  
• Continuing to improve by large chunks.

I know these points aren’t enough to put Hobbs Kessler on the team and yes maybe this is more a wishful pick, but how great would it be to see this kid make the team?  How much fun would it be to watch something that hasn’t been done in 57 years happen again?  Let me leave you with one more point…

• When Jim Ryun made the 1964 Olympic team, the games were in Tokyo, Japan!

Just Sayin’!

So, looking forward to watching some great races next week with a keen eye on the men’s 200m and the men’s 1500m races.  I always pull for the underdog, and I am really excited to see how well Erriyon Knighton, and Hobbs Kessler do at these trials.  I wish them both much success and to be better for this experience.