Here's what to know about Springfield area athletes at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Sacred Heart-Griffin's Ryan Held and Carlinville’s Kelsey Card will head back to the Summer Olympics.
A few others from the Springfield area also attempted to qualify for Paris at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, including Southeast’s Jamari Drake, Chatham Glenwood’s Megan van Berkom and Springfield High’s Robert Williams.
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Here’s what to know:
Ryan Held
The 2014 SHG graduate previously won the gold medal in the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with Michael Phelps, Caeleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian.
He later missed the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics on a technicality. He placed sixth at the team trials in the 100 freestyle, but was left off due to roster limitations.
Held took another crack at the 100 free at this year's team trials in Indianapolis and finished fifth in 47.82 seconds to clinch a spot on the roster for the 4x100 free relay. He additionally placed sixth in the 50 free with a time of 21.85.
“We’ve never not taken six,” Held recently told The Associated Press, which noted that the U.S. usually takes the top six to possess extra swimmers for the Olympic 4x100 free relay preliminaries. “We had never done this, and I was left off the team by a technicality. It was just heartbreaking. It was. I was kind of in a mix of emotions because swimming, which had brought me so much joy and passion for so long, now all of a sudden caused me so much pain and kind of anger and confusion.”
Held, now 28, won three state gold medals with SHG — including the 50 free and twice in the 100 free — before attending North Carolina State University. His 19.76 seconds in the 50 free still stands as the IHSA state meet record.
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Megan van Berkom
The 2020 Chatham Glenwood graduate reached the semifinals in the women’s 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley.
She took 14th place in the 200 butterfly semis in 2:10.75 and 13th in the 200 IM semis in 2:14.46.
The Chatham native won her second Big Ten Conference title in the 400 IM as a senior this past season at University of Minnesota and holds school records in the 200 butterfly (1:53.89), 200 IM (1:54.92) and 400 IM (4:02.51).
She solely competed for the Springfield YMCA SPY team during high school.
Jamari Drake
The 2016 Southeast graduate ascended to seventh place in the women’s high jump at the U.S. Track and Field Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. She reached as high as 1.83 meters (6-feet).
Event runnerup Rachel Glenn and third-place finisher Vashti Cunningham made the cut with the Olympic standard, but not champion Charity Hufnagel.
Hufnagel still needs to reach 1.97 meters (6-5 ½) at a meet prior to June 30 or rely on the World Athletics rankings — currently No. 4 in the U.S. — to round out the group. Jenna Rogers holds a slight edge at No. 3. Drake is No. 16.
Drake captured the Class 2A high jump state title as a junior at Southeast before winning the 4x100 relay as a senior. She attended University of New Mexico before transferring to University of Georgia as a graduate student.
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Robert Williams
The 2019 Springfield High graduate appeared in the USATF team trials in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. He finished in 53.52 seconds, but did not advance to the semifinals.
Williams won the Big Ten Conference title in the 4x400-meter relay as a freshman and qualified for the NCAAs in the 400 hurdles as a senior this past season.
Kelsey Card
The 2011 Carlinville appeared in the 2016 and 2021 Olympics in the women’s discus throw. She will represent the U.S. again in Paris but in a different capacity as an athlete services coordinator.
She finished as high as 25th in her first Olympics appearance after winning the national title at University of Wisconsin. She was the first ever Badger to win a field event in the NCAAs.
In a radio interview with WFMB, Card said she will assist U.S. athletes at Olympic Village and described her role as “Team Mom/Stepmother.”
Card swept the Class 1A shot put and discus throw state titles all four years at Carlinville. Her throw of 167 feet, 4 inches remains as the IHSA’s all-time state meet record in the discus.
She currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield area athletes at the 2024 U.S. Summer Olympic Team Trials
