Clayton Young
Clayton Young is an elite college distance runner. As a senior at Brigham Young University, he won the men’s 10,000-meter title at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas. He also placed sixth in the 5K. He is one of many athletes mentored by Ed Eyestone and his team. Young is the first BYU track and field national champion in the 10,000-meter race since Eyestone won the event in 1985.
On October 8, 2018, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named Young National Athlete of the Week.
Young began distance running in elementary school in Yakima, Washington, after joining a mileage club. After his family moved to Utah, he competed for American Fork High School in its elite cross-country program. He was all-state three times in cross country and ten times in track. He was a member of three Utah state championship cross country teams.
He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as a missionary in the North Carolina Raleigh Mission. Although setting aside running to focus on his missionary service, he was able to lose the weight he had gained as a missionary and became stronger and faster.
Young and his wife, Ashley, are the parents of two daughters. His plans include graduate school and becoming an Olympic runner.
Olympics
On Saturday morning, February 3, 2024, Conner Mantz and Young finished 1-2, respectively, in the nationally televised U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando, Florida, qualifying for the 2024 Olympics being held in Paris, France. Young finished with a time of 2:09:06, one second behind Mantz's time of 2:09:05. Young became the fourth Utahn to qualify for the Olympic marathon, all four of them former BYU runners, Utah natives, and former missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The other three are Young's coach Ed Eyestone, Mantz, and Jared Ward.
Mantz and Young finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in their Olympic marathon debut: Mantz with a time of 2:08:12 and Young with 2:08:44—the two fastest times ever by Americans in the Olympic Games and just short of their personal records of 2:07:47 and 2:08:00.
- “I’m proud to (place) in the single digits and run 2:08. I’ve been eyeing the top 10 for a long time, and to be able to execute a great race and still have some in the tank gets me excited for the future. We thought that 2:08 would be on the podium, but it wasn’t quite enough. It was fun finding Conner out there on the course and sharing ice, bottles, and an epic high-five. I’m feeling grateful, motivated and inspired. I’m excited for L.A. 2028.”[1]
Young was joined by other Latter-day Saint Olympic athletes at a devotional held on August 4, 2024, in a meetinghouse in France. Young was joined by U.S. men’s marathon runner Conner Mantz, and U.S. men’s steeplechasers Kenneth Rooks and James Corrigan, also all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Matthieu Bennasar, a former Area Seventy, also gave remarks. The devotional was conducted in French and translated in English.
