Five professionals and former members of the program are also set to compete in Eugene.

Eleven men that are current and former Cougars will vie for a spot on the Olympic team headed to Paris later this summer, nine of which are current members of the BYU program.

BYU is the only school in the nation to have at least one athlete in every distance event.

Headlining the field is recently turned professional Kenneth Rooks who won the 2023 NCAA and USATF National Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Rooks will be representing Nike in the event. Big 12 Champion James Corrigan will be competing alongside Rooks. Corrigan holds the No. 3 all-time program record in the event of 8:28.84.

Fellow professional Conner Mantz will also be competing for Nike in the 10,000-meters. Mantz has already secured a spot on Team USA in the marathon with his first-place performance at the Olympic Team Trials in Orlando in February earlier this year. He crossed the tape in 2:09:05 with fellow BYU alum Clayton Young finishing in stride. Young will also represent the United States in the marathon.

Current BYU athletes Casey Clinger and Creed Thompson will join Mantz in the 10,000m. Both Clinger annd Thompson have overcome injuries that have have had them earn redshirt status this past indoor and outdoor track seasons, but will approach the start line healthy.

Lucas Bons will compete in the 1,500-meters. Bons ran 3.35.88 unattached earlier this month in the event. Fellow middle distance runner Sebastain Fernandez will compete in the 800-metera having placed second at the distance in the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

Three-time First Team All-American Cameron Bates will compete in the javeline. He will be joined by fellow throwers Danny Bryant in the shot put and Dallin Shurts in the discus. All three Cougars earned First Team All-American honors at the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championships earlier this month.

Riley Hunt will compete in the 110-meter hurdles, having recently garnered the school record in the event at the NCAA Preliminary round in May with a time of 13.70.

Also, ten women from BYU will be competing for a spot on the Olympic team including 3000m steeplechase professional Courtney Wayment who finished second at last year’s USATF Championships. Indoor Big 12 3000m conference champion Lexy Halladay-Lowry will join Wayment in the event as well as Second Team All-American Taylor Lovell.

Anna Camp-Bennett will represent Adidas in the 1500m as she competes for a spot on the Olympic team. Camp-Bennett won the event at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Sophomore Riley Chamberlain will also join her in the event as she was named a Second Team All-American at the 2024 outdoor championships and anchored BYU’s DMR team to a national title in March.

Whittni Morgan will compete in the 5000m repping Adidas. Morgan won an individual cross country national championship for the Cougars in 2021.

Meghan Hunter will compete in the 800m. Hunter is coming off a personal best of 2:00.75 ran June 9 at the Portland Track Festival.

BYU seniors Jaslyn Gardner and Cierra Tidwell Allphin will compete in the 100-meter dash and the high jump, respectively. Gardner boasts an all-conditions personal best of 11.00 ran at the 2024 NCAA West Preliminary Round. Tidwell Allphin is a six-time All-American in the high jump (four First Team, two Second Team).

True freshman Alysa Keller will compete in the javelin as she qualified for the trials with her throw of 51.86m/170-2 at the Big 12 championships.

The meet will take place at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on June 21-30. The meet schedule can be found at https://www.usatf.org/events/2024/2024-u-s-olympic-team-trials-%E2%80%94-track-field/schedule, while live results can be found at https://results.usatf.org.

Grand Junction signs UVU baseball’s Calyn Halvorson to a professional contract

Utah Valley continues to have players sign professional contracts. Calyn Halvorson has signed with the Grand Junction Jackalopes of the Pioneer League, making him the fourth player on the 2024 roster to sign a professional contract.

“Calyn came to Utah Valley as a highly touted slugger and lived up to the hype. Every day he went out and played hard for his team,” said UVU head coach Eddie Smith.

Halvorson played two seasons in Orem and was a constant in the Wolverine’s lineup. He leaves Orem as .306 career batting average in 106 games played. The right-handed slugger set a career-high with ten homers and 45 RBIs in 2024. One of his biggest jumps came in walks, going from nine walks in 2023 to 32 in 2024.

The Grand Junction Jackalopes, based in Grand Junction, Colo., play in the Pioneer League. Halvorson joins five others in the league, including 2024 teammate Cole Jordan, who recently signed with the Ogden Raptors. Isaac Lovings, Mitch Moralez, and Patrick Mills currently play for the Billings Mustangs, and Drew Sims plays for the Glacier Range Riders.

Seven former Wolverines have now signed professional deals in the Eddie Smith era. In total, UVU currently has nine playing professional baseball with Paxton Schultz (Buffalo), Casey Anderson (Visalia), and Garrett Broussard (Windy City) also playing in various leagues.