Doors finally are opening for Ryan

It was a big deal for Paul Ryan to claim a medal last week in the NCAA outdoor track and field championships at Hayward Field in track-adoring Eugene, Ore.

Two days later, though, he outdid that accomplishment — at the same venue, this time in relative obscurity.

At a hastily organized meet Sunday, the former Logos Secondary and Washington State runner qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the men’s 1,500-meter run, narrowly beating the deadline for doing so.

Very big deal.

The Trials start today in Eugene, and Ryan will compete in the first round of the 1,500 this coming Thursday. The Olympics are scheduled to begin July 23 in Tokyo.

It’s another in a series of recent milestones for a runner who got accustomed to such things in small-school Idaho track but found them far more elusive at the major-college level. He struggled early with an Achilles-heel injury, and maybe also with a bit of competitive whiplash.

“I think I was overconfident going into my freshman year,” he said by phone Wednesday. “Then I kind of got knocked my first couple of races. It was such a different level from what I was used to.”

Paradoxically, he might have found his footing during the coronavirus pandemic. It forced the cancellation of his senior season last year but, like other NCAA athletes, he was granted an extra year of eligibility — his sixth at Wazzu.

Having already secured a bachelor’s degree in accounting, he continued pursuit of an MBA. Meanwhile, his running turned a corner.

“The fall of 2020, I had some of my best training ever,” he said.

He wrapped up his WSU career a week ago at the outdoor nationals by nabbing the eighth and final medal in the 1,500, by .11 of a second. That easily eclipsed his highest previous placing at a national meet, a 20th in the mile in the NCAA indoor meet in March.

Doors are now opening for him. An agent has reached out, meaning Ryan could be poised to fulfill a lifelong dream of running professionally.

The only problem with medaling at the national outdoor meet was his clocking of 3 minutes, 40.50 seconds — three seconds shy of the qualifying standard for the Trials. Ryan said he spent perhaps 800 meters in Lane 2, trying fruitlessly to pass elite runners who didn’t want to be passed. It might have been gutsy but it wasn’t the shortest way to the finish line.

Luckily, this was Eugene, which specializes in last-chance track meets.

Sure enough, Ryan was invited to stay in town for a couple of days and join a low-key but official-enough gathering Sunday at Hayward that included a 1,500 field of Olympic hopefuls and a couple of “rabbits” to set the pace. As a bonus, the evening was calm and cool.

Ryan placed first among Americans in a personal-record 3:37.04, beating the Trials qualifying standard by almost half a second and putting him 21st of what now are 28 qualifiers. The winner was an Englishman and Oregon Duck, James West, who was gunning for the overall Olympic standard of 3:35.0 but settled for 3:35.59.

Ryan thinks he could have run faster if he hadn’t been taxed from the NCAA.

“I did three races in five days — it was pretty hard,” he said. “We started cranking. I couldn’t believe how fast we were going.”

He ran the first 800 in 1:56. He covered the third lap in an outrageous 57 seconds — faster than he’d be able to muster for the final lap.

“It was really a long, hard effort for that last 800,” he said.

And for the last six years. But he’s arrived at a destination he’d been aiming for.

OTHER OLYMPIC HOPEFULS — A former Lewis-Clark State runner and current coach at the college, Sam Atkin, of Lincolnshire, England, has qualified for the British Trials in the 10,000 and is trying to do so in the 5,000. He’s been in Europe for about a week, and the Trials begin June 25.

Two years ago, Atkins placed eighth in the 3,000 at the European Indoor.

Pullman High School graduate Mayyi Mahama, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania, could have contended for a Trials berth in the women’s hammer but is grappling with a herniated disc and viewing this as a recovery year.

Sam Brixey, a WSU senior from Boise, missed the Trials qualifying standard by a significant margin in the men’s hurdles but apparently came close to an at-large berth. His time of 13.70 is the fastest among those not invited.

Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.