ST. LOUIS — The 2024 Olympics in Paris are just several months away. Saturday morning, the marathon trials happened in Florida featuring dozens of runners.
Only the top 3 finishers could land a spot in the games.
One of those top finishers was former Parkway Central runner Emily Sisson, who placed second in the women's marathon and will be running for Team U.S.A. this summer.
The 10K Olympian who competed in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 made her first Olympic Marathon Team thanks to getting second place during Saturday's trails.
One of the trial qualifiers was also local middle school band director Jerod Broadbooks who ran in his first Olympic Marathon trials on Saturday morning.
"Imagine you're playing in an NFL football game and you're going up against Peyton Manning or Marshawn Lynch" Broadbooks said. "These names that have been around forever. It's like, that's the guy that I'm running next to."
Running on February 4 was only his second marathon ever. His first was his qualifying run in California in December 2023.
Being at an Olympic trail in Orlando though, "was definitely surreal to be able to run with some of the guys that I've literally followed since I started running back in 2012," Broadbooks said.
He ran cross country at Lindenwood University, graduating in 2019.
Then started teaching at Barnwell Middle School about two years ago in the Francis Howell School District.
Broadbrooks directs about 150 students a week in between his rigorous 10-month training schedule.
"It speaks to his dedication and how truly and highly motivated he is," Broadbook's assistant principal at Barnwell Erin Thurston said. "You see that in pretty much everything that he does for the school and the district."
"Everything he puts his mind to doing you see that same dedication," Thurston added.
The band director placed 26th out of more than 170 of the best marathon runners in the country. He missed out on being one of the top three men who will represent Team U.S.A. in Paris.
While his Olympic dreams are done, for these games, Sisson's have only just begun after running 26.2 miles on Saturday.
"I was very kaput," Sisson said in her post-race press conference interview. "I just kept thinking, top 3, top 3. Make this team."
"I just wanted to hold my position," Sisson said. "It did help, I thought the crowds were great today. There were some sections that were really loud and then there were some people who would tell us how close everyone was. So, it was very helpful."
Those crowds will hopefully help again as she goes for gold in Paris on August 11.
Other notable marathon runners from today include a former University of Illinois runner, Colin Mickow who finished in 20th place in the men's trial. Plus, former SLU runner Molly Roberts finished 78th for the women.
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