BYU runner Kenneth Rooks describes dramatic victory after falling during race

PROVO, Utah (KUTV) — It’s the talk of the country – a BYU steeplechase runner who fell down during a race over the weekend, only to come back and win the whole thing.

In a one-on-one interview Monday with KUTV 2News, Kenneth Rooks said he’s still taking in the national attention his dramatic victory has attracted.

“I still feel like it’s a bit surreal,” said Rooks via Zoom from Oregon. “It’s amazing to think that I was able to do what I did.”

Rooks won the national championship in the men’s steeplechase in Oregon on Saturday. But for much of the event, it didn’t look like that would happen. Just over two minutes into the 3,000-meter race, Rooks fell down.

“The guy ahead of me stuttered and kind of lost his bearings,” Rooks said. “By the time I was at the barrier, I just had to just kind of fall over it.”

Rooks said at that moment, he wondered if his race was over.

“But I was able to make the decision fairly quickly to just get up and keep moving forward,” he said.

Move forward, he did.

“It took a while to catch up, but by the time I caught up and was with the pack, I was in position to maybe do something special,” said Rooks.

Special may be an understatement.

“I was driving to the finish and the crowd was roaring,” said Rooks. “That’s when I realized I was going to win the thing.”

Ryan Waite, one of Rooks’s coaches at BYU, was in Oregon to watch the race along with head track coach Ed Eyestone. At first, Waite said, they were “devastated” when Rooks fell and sat in silence.

That is, until Rooks roared back. At that point, Waite said, he and his fellow coach were “just screaming incoherently.”

“Pure pandemonium. Just pure joy,” said Waite. “We were laughing and crying at the same time. It was just a surreal experience that I’ll never forget.”

Rooks echoed that.

“I’ve won a lot of races, and there’s been a lot of really cool moments,” he said, “but in this race – being able to fall and get back up – it’s a special moment.”

The steeplechaser added, “this is going to go down as something to remember for sure. I don’t think anything as dramatic has happened to me before.”

With his victory over the weekend, Rooks now gets to compete in the world championships next month in Budapest, Hungary. He plans to run cross country with BYU in the fall before getting ready for the Olympic trials in the steeplechase next year.