EUGENE, Ore. — Cole Hocker said he was not trying to make a statement.
Well, too late for that. He did.
The Cathedral High School graduate, in the first round of the 1,500 meters, nearly set a U.S. Olympic Trials record as track and field’s showcase opened Friday night at Hayward Field.
Hocker led from the first few steps, then distanced himself farther with a closing 400 of 57.73 seconds. He looked over his shoulder to make sure he was safely ahead.
He was.
Hocker’s time of 3:34.34 was just off the trials record of 3:34.09 set by Matthew Centrowitz in 2016, the year Centro won Olympic gold at Rio de Janeiro.
“It was about as good a day as I could have asked for,” Hocker said. “Coming off of it, feeling like did not have to dig deeper than I wanted to.”
Also moving on was Notre Dame graduate Yared Nuguse, who holds American records in the 1,500 and mile. Nuguse was second in another heat in 3:37.61.
Semifinals are Saturday and the final Monday night.
Hocker was sixth at the 2021 Olympics and seventh at the 2023 World Championships. He won his first global medal, a silver, in March’s World Indoor Championships at Glasgow, Scotland.
He was running on his home college track at Oregon, where he was a three-time NCAA champion in his breakout 2021 season.
“The name of the game is to get through round 1, round 2 unscathed,” Hocker said. “Day 3 is the one that matters the most. These two matter, too, though.”
Hocker is also entered to run in heats of the 5,000 Thursday, which would be three days after the 1,500 final.
Elsewhere, another Indianapolis Olympian, Lynna Irby-Jackson, moved on to semifinals.
Irby-Jackson, a 12-time state champion at Pike High School, won a heat of the 400 meters in a season-best time of 50.89. She ranked third overall.
Top time of 50.13 was turned in by Shamier Little, who said afterward she would scratch out of semifinals to concentrate on making the team in the 400 hurdles.
Irby-Jackson is trying to make a second Olympic team, having won two relay medals at Tokyo.
Also moving to semifinals were Addy Wiley and Allie Wilson in the 800.
The 20-year-old Wiley, of Huntington, was third in her heat in 2:01.17, also third-fastest overall. She is also entered in the 1,500, in which she set a collegiate record while at Huntington University last year.
Wilson, an Indianapolis resident, won a heat in 2:01.57. Wilson and Wiley went 1-2 at February’s USA Indoor Championships.
Texas A&M’s Semira Killebrew, who set a state record while at Brebeuf Jesuit, advanced to semis of the 100 by finishing fourth in her heat in a season-best 11.20.
Erin Reese, a former Indiana State hammer thrower, was sixth in qualifying for the final with a distance of 232 feet, 4 inches.
In the 3,000 steeplechase, Daniel Michalski lost momentum after a stumble coming out of the last water jump and finished 10th in a semifinal in 8:34.43. Top five advanced. Michalski, a former Indiana University runner, was fourth in the steeple at the 2021 trials.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.