Casey Clinger
Casey Clinger is an elite runner who trains with Ed Eyestone. He placed fifth in the 10,000-meters at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. In 2022 he said, “I’ve enjoyed running a variety of distances, from the mile to the longer stuff. My mindset is not to specialize, to keep a good range.”
Clinger graduated from American Fork High, a national-class distance running program. He played club soccer as a boy, but he noticed that he was one of the fastest runners on the pitch. He competed in the annual Strawberry Days 5K and won his age group in the annual Strawberry Days 5K road race in Pleasant Grove. “He was a 12-year-old running a 5K and he was out to win it,” says his father, Steve. “He was just crazy competitive.” When he reached ninth grade, Clinger dropped soccer and joined the American Fork cross-country team. He was an eight-time state champion in cross-country and track. At the end of his junior year, he won the Nike cross-country championship title. In 2016, he was named Gatorade National Athlete of the Year for cross-country.
In 2023, he finished third in the 10,000-meter run of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships with a time of 28:13.63. In January at the 2023 Razorback Track and Field Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Clinger shattered a 38-year-old school record held by Eyestone. “I’m happy to relinquish my school record,” Eyestone says. “[Casey] worked hard and executed a perfect race.” Clinger finished first in the 3,000m at 7:43.96. Two months later Clinger blazed to a second-place finish in the 5,000m at the NCAA Indoor Championship.[1]
Clinger served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Sapporo, Japan (2019-20). His wife, Morgan, played for BYU's women's volleyball.
At BYU, he majored in business management and will graduate with an MBA.
