Only nine out of 14 entrants toed the line Sunday afternoon in Eugene, Oregon for the USA Track and Field Under-20 Championships Men's 5,000-meter run. At stake at the 4-year-old "reimagined" Hayward Field (on the site where the previous versions stood going back to 1919), were medals, a national title, widely regarded All-America distinction for the top-8 finishers and two spots on Team USA for the 2023 Pan American Under-20 Championships next month in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood
Drew Rogers arrived in Columbia to run for the University of Missouri last August after a standout prep career at Herscher High School in Herscher, Illinois, about 35 miles outside of the Chicago suburbs. As a sophomore in the fall of 2019, Rogers captured the 1A state cross country title to win his first gold medal in Illinois' smallest of three classifications.
As a junior during the indoor season in 2021, Rogers ran an 8:57 3200-meters to break the 9-minute barrier. He matched that mark during the outdoor season in 2021. Rogers claimed the 1A state title in both the 3200 and 1600. He clocked 4:13.26 in winning the 1600 and earned a spot in the Festival of Miles.
In St. Louis at the 2021 Festival of Miles, Rogers ran to a runner-up finish in the Boys Championship mile in 4:08.02. That time put him 21st on the 2021 MileSplit U.S. High School Mile performance list.
Rogers was 2nd in the 2021 Illinois Class 1A state cross country championships, covering 3 miles in a personal best of 14:29. Injuries may have hindered his final semester of high school as he didn't race indoors as he had in years past. He claimed another state title with a victory in the 3200 in 9:17 and was 2nd in the 1600 in 4:19.
Rogers may not have had the finish to his high school career he wanted as he likely had dreams of getting close to the 4-minute mile barrier like most would after a junior year 4:08 performance, but he's putting quite an exclamation point to the end of his freshman year in the college ranks.
Mr. Rogers at Mizzou
In the fall, he was consistently one of the top-3 finishers for the Tigers in cross country. He ran 24:14 to place 22nd in the Gans Creek Classic College 8k. He followed with a 75th-place finish at the SEC Championships, crossing the finish as the 5th Tigers scorer. He capped his first season in the Black and Gold by taking 76th at the Midwest Regional at Gans Creek. He was the 2nd Mizzou finisher in a field of 199 runners.
Rogers didn't race indoors but kicked off his freshman track season at the Raleigh Relays in late March. It was an excellent debut as Rogers raced to a 14:08 finish in the 5,000-meters. He followed up with another 14:08 5k three weeks later at the Mt. SAC Relays in California.
Rogers ran a 3:52 1500 before the SEC Championships. At the conference meet at LSU, he ran the 5,000. The 5,000 at SECS is always one of the very last events, with teams throwing many athletes in who have already raced events from the 1500 to 10,000 meters, hoping to score a point or few or help out teammates.
In the tactical race, Rogers finished 18th in the field of 33, finishing in 14:49. He was 2nd among freshmen in the race.
OMG in Oregon
The Men's U20 5,000-meter race was a championship with a lot on the line but little incentive for anyone to take the lead, push the pace, and be a possible sacrificial lamb to pull the field along only to be swallowed up and left in the dust.
Rogers raced in the middle of the pack early on. One runner dropped out just before the halfway mark, making it an 8-man race. University of Iowa's William Ryan led thru much of the race in a yellow jersey and black shorts. Rogers, in a gold top and black shorts, was content to sit in the middle or back of the pack of seven, which had pulled away from one runner.
Just before the 4200-meter mark, or two laps to go, the pack dropped another runner, leaving a group of six. The pace picked up on the penultimate lap. Rogers swung to the outside of lane 2 on the curve, pulling into the lead as he hit the backstretch with 700 meters to go. The field strung out, with the leaders leaving one runner behind on the backstretch and another on the curve.
Rutgers' Liam Tilton moved to the lead as he hit the homestretch and increased his lead to three strides at the bell. On the backstretch, the lead was 15 meters when Iowa's Ryan moved past Rogers while UC-Riverside's Tyler Kaan was a few strides back. Ryan burst by Rogers and was making up ground on Tilton.
Around the final bend of the curve, Ryan went by Tilton while Rogers was trying to keep pace 15 meters back. It looked like Rogers was going to have to settle for a bronze medal. However, as Rogers came off the curve, his cadence picked up, and with his tight arm carriage and stride increasing, he immediately directed a new path to the finish. He angled toward lane 2 with Tilton in lane 1 and Ryan leading by a stride in lane 2 10-12 meters ahead.
Tilton looked over his shoulder multiple times, even before coming off the curve. Tilton may have heard footsteps or the crowd because he picked up his long legs and tried to go to another gear. Rogers kept coming. The tall Tilton and his big strides inched closer as Iowa's Ryan appeared to get too comfortable. Ryan nearly shut it down.
Rogers was smooth, no wasted motion, arms pumping tightly to his body, wrists up and down to his hips, knees lifting, no strain. Rogers caught and flew by Tilton and Ryan with about 30 meters to go. Rogers casually neared the finish, reached down, and stopped his watch as he crossed the line.
National Champion.
With 160 meters to go, Rogers was losing ground and looked like he would finish 3rd. Somehow, he put it into another gear and turned a 10-12-meter deficit into a 2-meter win. "OH HO!", online broadcast color analyst and former US Olympian Carrie Tollefson shrieked shockingly as Rogers quickly made up ground down the homestretch. Play-by-play man John Anderson, the ESPN SportsCenter anchor and the former University of Missouri high jumper added, "And that's Andrew Rogers who's closing fast. Rogers from Mizzou, gonna give you an M-I-Z."
Rogers closed in 60.6 seconds for his last lap of 12, with a 2:07 final 800-meters, and a 2:43 final 1,000-meters. Rogers' finish put him atop the awards podium at Hayward Field. It also gave him the opportunity to go through USA team processing, getting him fitted for Team USA gear, and doing everything else necessary for him to go to Puerto Rico next month to race in the red, white, and blue at the Pan American Under-20 Championships.
No matter what else Drew Rogers does over the next 3-4 years of college, or the rest of his running career, he'll always have an unforgettable finish and performance he can be proud of.
