BUDAPEST, Hungary —BYU distance runner Kenneth Rooks placed 10th in the Men’s 3000-meter steeplechase finals Tuesday at the World Athletics Championships with a time of 8:20.02.
"Kenneth was a great representative of BYU and the United States of America," said BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone. "He came to this thing as a junior in college and made it to the finals in amazing fashion, showing that he's going to be very good for a very long time."
The preliminary round took place Saturday, with Rooks taking first in his heat with a 8:23.66 time to beat out former World and Olympic champion El Bakkali (Morocco) – who later on took the victory in Tuesday's finals – by 0.001 seconds.
In Tuesday's final round, Rooks toed the line with world record-holder Lamecha Girma (Ethiopia) and aforementioned champion El Bakkali. As the gun went off, Rooks floated around the front of the pack. Maintaining a 67 second per-lap pace, he managed to hold a fourth-place position for the first 900 meters to become a steady force in the competition.
Just starting into the second lap, Rooks fell to 14th before surging back to sixth just a hundred meters later. Proving his consistency, the NCAA and USA champion found his footing around the 11th-place spot for a majority of the back end of the competition. Bakkali took the victory with a time of 8:03.53. Approaching the finish line, Rooks launched himself to gain a final time of 8:20.02 for a 10th-place finish.
"We've just scratched the surface of what he's capable of," Eyestone said. "I'm really proud of the guts that he displayed. 8:11 is not out of the realm of what he can do. This has set him up for some big things in the future."
Rooks entered Tuesday's finals having earned a series of prolific accomplishments. On May 6, he set a new American collegiate record at the Sound Running Festival with a time of 8:17.62 (later surpassed by fellow top American distance runner, Duncan Hamilton at 8:16.23).
Building on the momentum, Rooks became a champion at the collegiate level with a podium-topping finish at the NCAA Championships on June 9, crossing the line at 8:26.17. With the victory, he became the fourth BYU steeplechaser to win an NCAA title while solidifying a spot on the next stage in what would become a performance for the ages.
On July 8, Rooks won the USATF Outdoor Championships in dramatic fashion, coming all the way back from an early fall to claim victor with a time of 8:16.78. The title earned him a spot in the U.S. World Championships, which he completed with his 10th overall finish today.
Next, Rooks will switch gears and rejoin his teammates at BYU in preparation for the upcoming collegiate cross country season. The first meet, the Autumn Classic, will be held at the Clarence Robison Track and Field Complex at 10:30 am MDT on Friday, September 8. The meet will mark BYU's first time hosting a cross country meet in two years.