SPORTS
Thursday, June 24, 2021
The OBserVer — 7A
U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
‘It’ll be a tall order’
Former Enterprise
High School standout
David Ribich making
a run for Tokyo
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE —
David Ribich is set to
make a run for the 2021
Olympics.
The former Enterprise
High School and Western
Oregon University standout
will compete at the U.S.
Olympic Trials inside
Eugene’s Hayward Field,
vying to earn one of three
spots in the men’s 1,500-
meter run to the Summer
Olympic Games, which
start next month in Tokyo.
The trials started June
18 and run through June
27. Ribich takes to the
track for the first time
Thursday, June 24 in the
first round of the 1,500.
Competing in the trials
has been a lifelong goal for
Ribich, and he knows gar-
nering one of those coveted
top three spots will be a
challenge.
“It’s going to be one
of the hardest teams to
make for Tokyo,” he said,
speaking of a field that
includes Matthew Cen-
trowitz, the reigning
Olympic champion in the
1,500. “Going into that
race, it’ll be a tall order.”
Ribich enters the trials
as an underdog, and as
such, feels no pressure.
“I approach it just
like that,” he said of the
dark horse role. “Try not
to make it a bigger deal
than it is. … Taking it one
moment at a time and let-
ting myself be present in
that race is what it’s about.”
He is ranked 28th out of
30 competitors in the 1,500
with a qualifying time of
3:37.44. He said, though,
that time was from June
2019, and that since, he has
been keeping up with some
of the top-seeded runners
in the race, including his
Brooks Beasts Track Club
teammate Henry Wynne.
“I’ve been working
closely with him the last
four months,” Ribich said
of Wynne.
Wynne has the third-
best qualifying time at
3:34.08, and Ribich said in
training, “We’re not sepa-
rated by more than a few
decimals.”
Centrowitz has the top
qualifying time at 3:32.81.
His winning time in 2016
was 3:50.00.
Competitors will have
to make it through two
rounds of the race just to
reach the 1,500 final. The
semifinal race is June 25,
and the final is June 27. Of
the 30 initial runners, 24
will reach the semifinals,
but the field will be cut in
half to 12 for the final race.
“First round is pretty
much stay clear of con-
tact (with other runners),”
he said, calling the semi-
final race much more
“cutthroat.”
He also plans to adopt
a game plan that allowed
him to run a personal best
in the 5,000 at the Portland
Track Festival last month
and come within about
a second of reaching the
trials in that race.
“I’ve had race plans
going into races, and more
often than not I’ve failed
them,” he said. “My race
plan (last month) was to
run through the race and
respond on instinct.”
He said he won’t be
trailing any specific run-
ners, but instead will be
looking for a key moment
in the race — maybe “an
opening or gap that needs
to be filled, or a moment
where it’s time for me to
take the lead.”
“If I can be on in that
moment, I think I could
have a pretty deadly
maneuver to put myself in
position,” he said, saying
he needs to be hunting for
that opportunity.
Ribich said it is “tough
to say” what impact the
coronavirus pandemic had
on his training. On one
hand, he was reaching a
spike in his training pro-
gram where most ath-
letes under his coach take
off. On the other hand, the
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
Jenny reinheardt/Contributed
Photo
David Ribich, shown competing at
the Portland Track Festival in May,
runs his first race in the Olympic
Trials at Eugene’s Hayward Field
on Thursday, June 24, 2021.
shutdown enabled him to
focus on his health. He had
a platelet-rich plasma injec-
tion done on his Achilles
tendon to help heal some
damage from wear-and-
tear. For a while after
he wasn’t running, and
instead spent more time
working on an elliptical or
swimming. He added the
year was “needed.”
Now?
“I’ve never felt more
like myself, and never felt
more confident,” he said.
And while he may be an
underdog, he is optimistic
of his chances to run for a
spot in Tokyo.
“My coaches, myself
and my family believe that
is a possibility,” he said.
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Updike holds the univer-
sity outdoor track records in
the 3,000 steeplechase (8:47)
and 5,000 (14:17.28), as well
as the indoor track record in
the 3,000 (8:23.70). In cross
country, Updike is fourth
all-time in the program’s
record book with a time of
24:10 in the 8K.
Updike competes for
Empire Elite Track Club, a
professional distance run-
ning team located in New
York City. Tom Nohill and
John Trautmann, two former
U.S. distance runners, coach
the club and specialize in
Updike’s events.
Updike’s personal best
time in the steeplechase
came earlier in the year at
the USATF Grand Prix at
Oregon Relays on Saturday,
April 24. He won the stee-
plechase that day with a
time of 8:17.74.
Since the last Olympic
Trials in 2016, Updike has
cut his steeplechase time
down significantly. He ran
a time of 8:42.92 to place
12th out of 15 runners at the
2016 trials and came up well
short of making the Olym-
pics. Fast forward to 2021
and Updike has the current
leading time heading into
one of the biggest races of
his career.
The final round of the
men’s steeplechase is
slated to start at 4:42 p.m.
on Friday, June 25. The
trials are being televised
and streamed nationally on
NBC Sports.
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EUGENE — A trip to
Tokyo is one race away
for a former Mountaineer
track star.
Isaac Updike took first
place in the men’s 3,000-
meter steeplechase in the
first round of the U.S.
Olympic Trials on Monday,
June 21, in Eugene with a
time of 8 minutes, 21.01
seconds. Updike needs to
finish in the top three of the
final round Friday, June,
25 in order to secure a spot
on the 2021 U.S. Olympic
team.
Updike edged out Hil-
lary Bor, one of the favor-
ites in the steeplechase, by
just eight hundredths of a
second to take the top spot.
Although he led every lap
from start to finish, Updike
narrowly finished ahead
of Bor as the two battled
for first.
Updike’s time topped all
29 runners across two heats
in the event. The top five
finishers in each heat of the
first round advance to the
finals, as well as the next
four fastest times.
A native of Ketchikan,
Alaska, Updike ran cross
country and track and field
at Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity from 2011 to 2015.
He was a walk-on with
the Mountaineers, but the
29-year-old finished his
career as the fastest steeple-
chaser in program history.
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EOU grad qualifies for
steeplechase finals
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