Klecker earns a spot on Team USA at the USATF Championships

EUGENE, ore. University of Colorado alumnus Joe Klecker ran his way to the upcoming World Track and Field Championships in the USA on Thursday.

Klecker was one of 10 athletes with Colorado ties who competed on USA Track and Field’s opening day at historic Hayward Field. Alums Sage Hurta-Klecker, Emma Cobrun, Madie Boreman and Dani Jones each advanced from their respective first round competition.

Klecker had to wait all day for the men’s 10K, which didn’t start until 9:30 PM MT. He finished on the heels of Woody Kincaid (28:23.01) with a time of 28:24.50. Klecker dropped to ninth at 4,800 meters and didn’t make much of a move before jumping to fifth at 2,000 meters. He ran the last two 400-meter splits in sub-60 seconds, including a final lap of 56.88.

Hurta-Klecker was the first Buff of the day, who ran 800 meters with a time of 2:01:48. He was in second place in his heat after the first 400 meters and finished the second half of the race in 1:00.79 to win his heat. He automatically qualified for the semi-finals by winning the heat and placing 11th overall.

Coburn and Boreman took first and fifth in the steeplechase to advance to Saturday’s finals. The field didn’t even come close to Coburn’s country lead time of 9/07/93. Instead, Coburn was able to navigate his way through the field, opening the first lap in 10th place and moving from first to second in the penultimate lap, finishing with a time of 9:36.69.

Boreman took a different strategy to open the race, running in the top five for the first five laps. He dropped to sixth after two laps, but regained his position in the final lap to finish in 9:42.07.

Jones finished third in the final heat and 12th overall in the 1500m to earn automatic qualification for Saturday’s final. He improved each of his splits, ending up with a 45.73 split over the final 300m.

Avery McMullen opened the afternoon for CU in the heptathlon. He is 14th overall after four races. Her best event of the day was the 200m, where she finished 10th (24.66).

Buffs who competed but didn’t advance were James Milholewho finished 21st in the men’s 400m (46.68) and India Johnson (34:58.50) and Mackenzie Caldwell (35:07.09), who finished 17th and 18th in the women’s 10km.

Friday continues with the heptathlon, starting with the long jump at 12:45 MT. Abbey Glynn is in action in the 400m hurdles (17:39).

Portions of the meet will be televised on CNBC and Peacock and will be available live on USATF.TV.