Former BYU stars Conner Mantz, Clayton Young shine at New York City Marathon

Conner Mantz and Clayton Young, both former BYU national collegiate champions and 2024 Olympians, placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in Sunday’s New York City Marathon. As usual, they were the top American finishers.
Mantz crossed the finish line in 2:09:00, Young 2:09:21.
Their former BYU teammate, Rory Linkletter, placed 15th with a time of 2:11:45.
Mantz, Young and Linkletter all grew up in Utah and attended Utah high schools.
Sunday’s race was won by Kenya’s Abdi Nageeye, a native Somalian who runs for Netherlands and finished with a time of 2:07:39. He won the silver medal in the marathon at the 2021 Olympics. Africans took the first five places in Sunday’s race, three of them from Kenya.
Mantz and Young train together under the same coach, Ed Eyestone, who is also the BYU head track and cross-country coach. Sunday’s race marked the fourth straight time Mantz and Young have finished back to back in a marathon. They were sixth and seventh in the 2023 Chicago Marathon (13 seconds apart); first and second in the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (one second apart); eighth and ninth in the Olympic marathon (32 seconds apart); and sixth and seventh in the New York City Marathon (21 seconds apart).
Sunday’s race was their first marathon since then Olympics 10 weeks ago.
The New York race continued a hot streak by current and former BYU distance runners. Seven BYU athletes qualified for the U.S. Olympic track and field team — the most by any school in the country. BYU’s men’s and women’s cross-country teams will both be ranked No. 1 in the nation when the latest polls are released Tuesday.