“I was honestly a little bit in awe towards the end of the race when I took the lead with 200 to go,” Rooks said. BYU runners continuing assault of Cougars’ record book.Rooks, a junior engineering student from Washington, served notice last summer that the record was doomed when he raced to a time of 8:22.56 in the USA national championships. Two NCAA steeplechase champions passed through the school during that time, but even they couldn’t come closer than eight seconds of Marsh’s time. In 1977, Marsh covered the steeplechase in 8:21.60, which stood as the school record for 46 years. Then there was the record held by the other Henry.
In 1978, Olympian Henry Rono covered the race in an aberrational 8:05.4, one of four world records he set at four different distances that year. No American collegian has ever run faster, and only one foreign athlete has run faster while competing for an American university. Rooks beat his nearest rival by three seconds and cut the American collegiate record by one second, his personal record by five seconds, and BYU’s school record by four seconds. Rooks beat a field of professionals and at least one Olympian in running a time of 8:17.62 in the Sound Running Track Festival, which twice denied him entry in the race and only relented when another runner dropped out. “Watching it all unfold was just one of those goose-bump sort of moments.” - BYU track coach Ed Eyestone
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