Dunbar’s Olympic Chance Comes Tonight

Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar qualified Monday night for the finals of the 5,000 meter race at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Oregon. He runs in the finals tonight (Thursday) at 6:30 Alaska time against some of the best runners in the nation.

Looking back on the third-place finish of his heat Monday night, Dunbar, a sophomore at the University of Oregon, said he kept a little extra in the tank heading into the final lap.

The race will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Channel, which is channel 39 on local cable.

— (Dunbar 1 24 sec "The first half of the race … for the last home stretch.")

When the move was made by the race leaders, Dunbar fell to sixth place, but he went wide in the last corner and used that reserve:

— (Dunbar 2 8 sec "It was a great feeling … really fun, a really cool experience.")

Dunbar was sixth in the 5-K at the NCAA Track and Field Championships earlier this month – but he was the first American finisher. He says competing in the Olympic Trials, though, is a whole different ballgame:

— (Dunbar 3 13 sec "These are some of the best … same finish I did on Tuesday.")

Dunbar said the beeping in the background was his dad Marcus trying to get into his son’s car.

Being one of the 16 runners in the 5,000 meter finals means he definitely has a chance to win a berth to the Olympics, and Dunbar says that since this is his last race of the season, he’s going to "make it count."

He was thankful for all the support coming from Alaskans when told of the attention his run for the gold is getting in the state:

— (Dunbar 4 14 sec "I can’t really say how much … a lot of positive energy.")

There had been a possibility that Dunbar could have raced in the 1,500 meter qualifier as well, but he said his time was one second short of making that cut. Fifteen-hundred meters is just about one mile, while 5,000 of them are just over three-miles.

The finals of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field 5,000 meters will be tomorrow (Thursday) evening at 6:30 Alaska time. You can see the race on NBC Sports, which is channel 39 on cable.

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