North Carolina had its footprints all over the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon last week.
From June 21 to Sunday, numerous athletes from the state of North Carolina and local collegiate athletes competed for an opportunity to represent the United States in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Very few made their Olympic dreams come true in the trials, but some came close and will have to wait until the Olympic team is selected on Sunday to know their fate.
Raleigh native and Wakefield High School graduate Veronica Fraley earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the discus throw. Fraley finished third in the women’s discus throw final with her best attempt falling at a distance of 62.54 meters.
For Fraley, she had a successful month of June. Earlier in the month, she won the 2024 NCAA discus national title as a graduate student at Vanderbilt with a throw of 63.66 meters. Fraley holds the school record for discus (63.66 meters) and shot put (18.29 meters).
In 2021, coming off her final season at Clemson where she spent the first two years of her college career, Fraley competed in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, finishing 10th overall.
Although she spent the most recent track and field season at Roberts Wesleyan, former Duke pole vaulter Brynn King qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team after finishing third in the women’s pole vault final. King cleared a career-best 4.73 meters (15 feet, 6.25 inches) to punch her ticket to Paris.
UNC distance runner Parker Wolfe fell just short of outright qualifying for the Olympics after finishing third in the men’s 5,000-meter finals with a time of 13 minutes and 10.75 seconds.
