The U.S. Olympic Team Trials taking place in Eugene, Oregon, are nearing the final days of competition, and NAZ Elite's hopes to qualify an American athlete for the Paris Games are still alive.
On the opening day of the Trials on Friday, Futsum Zienasellassie finished 12th in the men's 10,000-meter final, and later that night teammates Abby Nichols and Katie Wasserman both advanced out of the prelims of the women's 5000m.
Nichols went on to finish 10th in the finals on Monday with a time of 15:25.19, while Wasserman placed 14th in 15:44.56.
Also on Monday, NAZ Elite's Krissy Gear made her way out of the women's 3000m steeplechase first round with a 10th-place finish at 9:30.92. The winner of the prelims was Gabbi Jennings, who crossed the finish line in 9:23.88.
Gear, who owns a steeplechase PR of 9:12.81, will compete in the Thursday finals.听
Also racing Thursday will be NAZ Elite's Olin Hacker and Ahmed Muhumed, as the two take on the prelims of a stacked 5000m while competing in different heats. Hacker enters the race with a PR at the distance of 13:08.76, which he set in late January at the BU Terrier Classic during an indoor event. Meanwhile, Muhumed's PR is at 13:08.73, which he set in mid-May at the USATF LA Grand Prix.
鈥淔or our guys it鈥檚 about navigating that really competitive environment and putting themselves in position to finish as high as possible," NAZ Elite coach Jack Mullaney said last week.
NAZ Elite is set to host a public run and Trials watch party on Thursday starting at 4 p.m. at its training facility. Fans are welcome to join.
Should Hacker and聽Muhumed advance to the finals, they will race again on Sunday.听
On Saturday, two NAZ Elite veterans will toe the line of the women's 10,000m finals. Joining Kellyn Taylor in the race will be Stephanie Bruce, who at 40 years old will be competing in her fifth Olympic Team Trials.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great testament to their consistency, their persistence, ability to show up and to really just stick with it," Mullaney said of Bruce and Taylor. "They set an example for the rest of our younger athletes in terms of showing them that they can have a long and successful career in this sport, and we鈥檙e excited that in a lot of ways we have experienced athletes at this Trials and a lot of athletes who are racing it for their first time.鈥�
When NAZ Elite brought aboard a handful of track-specific athletes such as Gear, Nichols and Hacker to the team in the summer of 2022, the idea was to have a stronger presence on the surface. With the team sending eight total athletes to the Trials this year -- and already having a young Olympian in South African Adrian Wildschutt -- that goal has been accomplished.听
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a really huge testament to just the history of the team," Mullaney said.听
He added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 just continuing to take steps collaboratively as a team to the point where we are going to the Olympic Trials with the most athletes we鈥檝e ever had. Something I told the team is that we didn鈥檛 come this far just to get this far, so we鈥檙e not necessarily satisfied with having eight people on the start lines. We want to make sure that we put forth performances that we are proud of and really go for it and see what we are capable of. At the same time, you have to balance that with a sense of gratitude for the efforts that everyone has put in just to get to this point.鈥�