Rooks receives national honor following record-breaking performance

NEW ORLEANS — BYU men’s steeplechaser Kenneth Rooks was awarded USTFCCCA Men’s National Athlete of the Week on Tuesday following his record-breaking performance at the Sound Running Track Fest on May 6.

Rooks becomes the first BYU athlete to be awarded the national honor during outdoor season since 800-meter runner Shaquille Walker did so on April 12, 2016. Rooks joins Walker and pole vaulter Zach McWhorter, a two-time recipient, as just the fourth BYU athlete to win the award across both indoor and outdoor seasons.

The junior from Walla Walla, Washington rewrote BYU and NCAA record books with a historic, all-time great race, going 8:17.62 in the steeplechase at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California on May 6.

Rooks ran a steady, patient race before gathering himself to counter former Olympian Hillary Bor’s move with 800-meters to go. After withstanding Bor’s initial onslaught, Rooks delivered a knockout blow, running the final lap in 59 seconds to beat On’s George Beamish by three seconds.

“He won in a superlative way,” BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone said. “He was patient, cool, calm, and collected.”

Rooks himself was taken aback by his performance.

“I was honestly a little bit in awe towards the end of the race when I took the lead with 200 to go,” Rooks said. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’m actually going to win this thing today.’ It’s cool to win and accomplish some things I didn’t even think about accomplishing.”

With his performance on Saturday night, Rooks becomes the 2023 men’s steeplechase world-leader and the event’s fastest American collegian in history. Across all nationalities, Rooks now ranks second in NCAA history to only Henry Rono of Washington State. Rono, a native Kenyan, ran 8:05.4 in 1978. Rooks also broke three-time Olympian Henry Marsh’s BYU school record 8:21.60 set in 1977.

“Kenneth’s run was one of historic proportions,” Eyestone added. “Watching it all unfold was just one of those goose-bump sort of moments.”

Rooks not only faced and beat Bor but former U.S. Olympian Benard Keter and professional runners from Hoka, New Balance and Under Armour. Rooks credited his competition for his performance.

“This was a big confidence booster for me,” Rooks said. “I felt like I had more to give in the last few races I was in, so it felt good to be in this race today where the other guys pushed me to do what I did.”

Rooks majors in civil engineering at BYU and is just two years removed from a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rooks served in both Kampala, Uganda and, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in Orem, Utah.

“When you take two years off of running and go on a mission, you wonder what it’s going to be like to get back in shape,” Rooks said. “It’s about trusting and being patient. Your body remembers things really well. It also helps having teammates who have been through it before.”

Twenty of Rooks’ distance teammates are also returned missionaries.

Rooks now turns his attention toward the NCAA West Preliminary Meet, held May 24-27 at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California.