Annie Rodenfels at the Drake Relays earlier this year.
Former Centre College three-time national champion Annie Rodenfels will be participating in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Olympic Trials tonight in Oregon.
She will be running in the first heat tonight about 9 p.m. EST hoping to earn a spot in Thursday’s final where the top three finishers will earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team that will compete in Paris.
Rodenfels had to run the 3,000-meter (1.86 miles) over fixed barriers and water jumps in 9 minutes, 41 seconds to qualify for her second Olympic Trials and she easily did that — her personal best is 9:24.48 set in 2023. She was also fourth at the Boston 5K in April. Last fall she won the USATF 5K National Championship in New York City.
“I have just run two steeplechase events this year. Both were low key and I was by myself (with no one close on the track) in 9:29 and 9:31,” the 2019 Centre graduate said.
She also met the qualifying times in the 1,500-meter and 5K despite limited races and training for those events but is concentrating only on the steeplechase this week.
Rodenfels is a professional runner for the Boston Athletic Association High Performance Team. She knows she likely will have to break 9:20 to qualify for the team but knows she is “stronger and faster” than when she ran her 9:25 and three weeks ago ran her personal best in the 1,500.
“If the race is really fast, it might take 9:17 to make the team,” she said. “I really believe the only thing standing in my way is how well I get over the hurdles. I know I have the strength and speed. I just have to get over the hurdles without wasting time.”
The top five from each heat and the next four best times qualify for Thursday’s final that will determine the Olympic qualifiers. Rodenfels says her experience is that qualifying heats will not be “super fast” compared to the times in the final.
“Everybody wants to save energy for the final if they can. I want to run in the 9:30 to 9:35 range to get in the top five and not have to bank on leaving it to chance of making the final,” she said.
Rodenfels, a Centerville, Ohio, native, knew how hard it would be for a Division III runner to become a professional runner but never gave up on pursuing her dream. She won both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships in 2019 — something only one other Division III runner had ever done.
She knew she didn’t really have a shot at making the Olympic team at her first Trials because she had a back injury about a month before the race. The combination of a bulging disk in her spine and a reaction to her second COVID shot had her far from her best in the Trials.
Rodenfels was grateful for the experience but goes into tonight’s race with a much different feeling.
“This time I feel there is a lot more potential for me to make the (Olympic) team. If I have a good day, it could happen (making the Olympic team), so that puts a little more pressure on me this time knowing if I line up and have my best day I could be going to the Olympics,” she said.
“The stakes are raised a little bit when you are a professional runner. The margin for error is so small. In Division III the pace is slower and it’s easier to be more consistent. Now the smallest things matter more because everyone else is doing everything to be better. Everyone is so fast there just is not a lot of room for error.”
Rodenfels that having “running as her full-time job is pretty cool” but also kind of “weird” at times.
“I run in the morning and sometimes take a second run in the evening,” she said. “It feels like there is a lot of free times but running is always on my mind. Every decision I make during the day affects my run the next day. I don’t do a ton of things but I can’t just do what I want because of what it might do to my running.
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Tonight’s steeplechase qualifying heats will be streamed on Peacock from historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., and Thursday’s final will be on NBC.
