Cole Hocker sets meet record by winning 1,500 meters at U.S. Trials and secures spot on Olympic team

EUGENE — More Olympic trials, another first place in the 1,500 meters for Cole Hocker.

The former Oregon Ducks star piloted the jets the final 400 meters to secure victory and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team Monday at Hayward Field, posting a meet-best and personal-best time of 3 minutes and 30.59 seconds.

“It’s my intuition,” Hocker said of his final push, which he said was not planned in advance. “I knew I never wanted to fall out of the top five. Just be there. I knew Yared (Nuguse) and Hobbs (Kessler) would be the ones to watch, so I just followed them. I have never excelled at this pace before. You could have told me it was a 3h35 race and I would have believed you.

The race began with Nuguse (3:30.86), who eventually finished second, setting the pace at the front, while third-placed Kessler (3:31.53) hovered in the top five. Hocker was in the mix throughout and made a push on the penultimate sequence to take the lead.

As they headed down the home stretch, Hocker said, he thought the Hayward crowd’s cheers were for another runner gaining on him. Although Nuguse put up a fight down the stretch, it seemed more likely to be a friendly Eugene crowd excited about a former Duck’s second appearance in the Olympics.

“I couldn’t believe it, but I played that race a thousand times in my head,” Hocker said. “For it to happen like that, it was incredible. I heard the crowd getting louder and louder and thought someone must be catching up with me. It helped me cross the finish line as strong as possible.

Hocker heads to Paris after finishing sixth in the 1,500m at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and seventh at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, in 2023.

Two other Ducks competed in the event: current Oregon junior Elliott Cook, who placed eighth in a personal best time of 3:33.84; and former Oregon runner Cooper Teare, who finished 10th in 3:35.17.

Cook’s time is also the second fastest ever by a man at the University of Oregon.

“I’ve never been in a race that fast,” Cook said. “It was just amazing to see the gap these guys got on me. Getting to the finish line not really paying attention to how fast we were running, but… it was amazing. The crowd. I still have a lot of processing to do. Emotions are mixed at the moment, I would have liked to place a little higher, but to come out of such a complicated race and still have a personal best, it’s great.

— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten conferences for The Oregonian and co-hosts the Soccer Made in Portland and Ducks Confidential podcasts. He can be contacted at [email protected] or @RyanTClarke.

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