Utah duo Conner Mantz, Clayton Young 1-2 in Orlando Olympic marathon trials; Fiona O'Keeffe also headed to Paris

ORLANDO, Fla. — Conner Mantz and his good friend Clayton Young were side by side for the entire 26.2 miles of the Orlando U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the marathon on Saturday, and they insisted there was no negotiating the finish.

“There was absolutely no rehearsal,” said Mantz, who has looked up to Young his entire career and won with a 2:09:05 clocking. “I was just trying to get to the finish … because I thought I might collapse and not finish.”

Leonard Korir, a Kenyan-born racer who lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., finished third in 2:09:57 and did not qualify automatically for the Paris Games. He will have to await the release of the international rankings to see if the U.S. is awarded a third spot in the Games. The rankings will be released May 5.

In her first marathon, North Carolina’s Fiona O’Keeffe prevailed in a U.S. qualifying record 2:22:10.

After the race, Young said that fellow BYU alum Mantz just had more in the tank.

“My conversation with Conner the last couple of miles was just, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s do this. We’re doing it. Stick on me,’ ” said Young, who finished one 10th of a second behind Mantz. “The last couple of 100s I was just like, ‘Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Soak it in. Soak it in,’ and I peeled off.”

“My first exposure to Clayton was … they came out with the MaxPreps article .. and I was like, ‘This guy is running for BYU. … He has a 4.0 GPA and he does every single extra-curricular activity you could have,” Mantz said. “I was like, ‘That guy is cool.’ … So it’s just a great relationship.”

Now Young can look up to Mantz. Besides training together, the two share many off-the-course moments as well. Mantz and his wife babysit sometimes for the Youngs’ two daughters.

“It’s almost as close to marriage as you would think. We have our disagreements sometimes. … We’re very, very competitive,” Young said. “Conner and I are better when we’re together. … That’s more of a testament to today as we worked together to break away and finish 1-2.”

For the women, O’Keeffe was followed by Emily Sisson (2:22:42) of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Dakotah Lindwurm (2:25:31) of Hopkins, Minn. All three women advance to Paris.

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