Alaska athletes go 1-for-4 at Olympic Trials, hitting a range of emotions along the way

The Olympic Trials, no matter the sport, are the place where years of training either take you to the world’s biggest stage or leave you home, relegated to the role of spectator sometimes by painfully small margins.

Alaska sent four athletes to the Olympic Trials for swimming and track, and one of them hit the jackpot.

Seward’s Lydia Jacoby experienced the highest of highs earlier this month in Omaha, Nebraska, where she made the Olympic team at age 17 by placing second in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke.

“I’ve lived out that moment so many times in my head, but it was nothing like that,” Jacoby said. “I wasn’t by myself until midnight or so, (so) I didn’t have a chance to process it for a long time. It’s just really crazy. So crazy. It’s definitely a big mix of emotions — disbelief, pride, happiness.”

The other three Alaskans went through a range of emotions:

• Heartbreak for Isaac Updike of Ketchikan, whose legitimate bid at an Olympic spot slipped away in the final 200 meters of the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase Friday in the Olympic Trials for track and field in Eugene, Oregon.

• Satisfaction and hopefulness for Allie Ostrander of Kenai, who ran a gutsy final lap to get a personal-best in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase Thursday. She did it despite training that was limited by injury and treatment for an eating disorder. (Ostrander skipped the other race she qualified for, Saturday’s 10,000 meters.)

• Excitement for John Heaphy of Eagle River, a 20-year-old swimmer who was thrilled to make the Olympic Trials in the men’s 100-meter breaststroke. He didn’t get the personal-best he hoped for while placing 27th, but he got a taste of the biggest and most intense meet out there for U.S. swimmers.

Updike ran with the leaders until nearly the very end of the men’s steeplechase final, finishing 2.67 seconds out of third place and a trip to Tokyo. The heat was excruciating, and for Updike, so was the outcome.

He’s 29 and essentially an amateur athlete — his individual sponsorship with Hoka One One wasn’t renewed earlier this year — in a professional sport.

Yet there he was in April, running the world’s fastest time of the season at a meet in Eugene. And there he was on Monday at the Olympic Trials, running the fastest qualifying time and winning his semifinal heat.

Updike made his move just before the final lap and was in the lead, with others right behind, as the bell lap began.

He was in third place at the final turn, 200 meters from the finish. Then came the final water jump, where he lost momentum with a small misstep upon landing in the pit. He lagged behind from there and finished in 8:24.72. His PR is 8:17.64 and his Monday semifinal time was 8:21.01.

Ostrander, who ran toward the back of the pack early but finished strong, placed eighth in the women’s race, more than eight seconds out of third place. The fast finish put a smile on Ostrander’s face and a new personal-best on her resume.

“The best I’ve ever been,” Ostrander posted on Instagram. “Walking away from the trials with a PR, Olympic standard, and the feeling that I have a lot left to give.”

Ostrander is 24 and a two-year member of the Brooks Beasts pro track club. She’s a veteran of the World Championships, making it to the steeplechase finals in 2019, where she ran a personal-best time of 9 minutes, 30.85 seconds, putting her .85 shy of the Olympic standard of 9:30.0.

She met that standard in Thursday’s finals by running 9:26.96, a PR by 3.89 seconds. She showed her grit in the final lap, running those 400 meters faster than everyone but the three Olympic qualifiers.

[Alaska running star Allie Ostrander says treatment of an eating disorder is her priority as Olympic Trials approach]

Updike and Ostrander gave Alaska a runner in both steeplechase finals, where there were 28 available berths — 14 for the men, 14 for the women.

Jacoby and Heaphy gave Alaska multiple swimmers at the Olympic Trials for the first time since 2000 and raised the total of Alaskans who have qualified for that meet to 12.

Jacoby is one of two Alaska athletes who are headed to the Olympics. Eagle River’s Alev Kelter is set to make her second appearance as a member of the U.S. women’s rugby 7s team.