Lindwurm just said she was a walk on to her Div II team. Believe and never give up! What an accomplishment today.
I looked up her high school times (she was Dakotah Bullen then). Her PRs were 5:40 for 1600, 12:32 for 3200. Amazing to go from there to making the Olympics.
Wow, Makenna Myler barely broke 2:32 before this and now she's top-8 in the deepest American women's trials ever with a 5 minute and 45 second PR. Huge performance from her.
Obviously O'Keefe deserves immense props but also have to give a shout out to McClain for 4th. Had never heard of her and just looked up her PRs. Had a big PR for 2:29 foe her entry into trials and then just dropped another 4 min on the big stage. Based on her track PRs didn't expect that, so clearly the marathon is her niche. Bravo to her and O'Keefe!
1-4-5-43 all Stanford grads.
At the 2019 NCAA XC champs . . . Stanford women were led by O'Keefe, Ella Donaghu, Julia Haymach, and Christina Aragon . . . all current pros . . . yet finished third behind AR & BYU (96-102-123) . . .
FWIW . . . look at the names of the top runners in that race: