Walla Walla's Kenneth Rooks pumped for Olympic steeplechase final

The Walla Walla Valley area is to be represented in Paris on Wednesday at the 2024 Summer Olympics as 24-year-old native Kenneth Rooks competes among 16 finalists in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with their race scheduled to start at 12:43 p.m. Pacific.

Rooks earned his spot Monday on the Stade de France track during steeplechase preliminaries as he placed second in one of three heats, edging Kenya’s Simon Koech by one thousandth of a second with Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma — the silver medalist in Tokyo — besting their race. The top five finishers in each advanced.

“I feel confident,” the 2018 College Place High School graduate, who won three state championships in cross country and track while running for the Hawks, texted Tuesday from France. “I have prepared the best I can. I am in the best shape I have been in the steeplechase.

“I am excited to get out there and see that I can do against the best in the world.”

Rooks completed the 3,000-meter obstacle course, featuring hurdles and water jumps, in 8 minutes, 24.95 seconds. His personal best remained an 8:15.08 he logged May 11 in Los Angeles at the Sound Running Track Fest.

One of three American steeplechasers at the Olympics, Rooks finished Monday as the lone U.S. qualifier for the final. College Place High School is to host a watch party on campus in the commons with free admission.

Rooks, now living in Utah — he and his wife, Taylor, got married five months ago — already has a history of succeeding on big stages. Each state title he won while at College Place came with him completing the race in a new personal-record time, and then last year saw him pull off a dramatic victory last year at the U.S. championships despite falling in the second of eight go-arounds.

Victory this summer at U.S. Olympic Trials came a year after Rooks, still competing for Brigham Young University, won both the 2023 NCAA crown and the USATF title before coming away from World Athletics Championships in Budapest ranked 10th. He has since embarked on a professional career with Nike while continuing his studies in civil engineering.

“I am prepared for a race that will more than likely go out fast,” Rooks texted ahead of Wednesday. “That is what I am anticipating.”