EUGENE, Ore. — Josh Honeycutt fell short of his ultimate goal of qualifying for this summer’s Olympic Games, but the former Iola High standout was still able to compete on a stage on Thursday that most can only dream about.
Honeycutt finished 16th in preliminary triple jumping on Thursday evening at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Honeycutt missed qualifying for tonight’s finals by just four places; the top 12 jumpers qualified.
Each jumper had three jumps to attempt to make the cut into the finals.
On Honeycutt’s first attempt, he jumped 15.47 meters and was sitting in 16th place going into the second round of jumping.
Honeycutt improved on his second attempt and jumped 15.96 meters and moved up in the standing briefly. Unfortunately for the Iola native, he wasn’t the only jumper who improved after their opening jump and after round two, Honeycutt still sat in 16th.
On Honeycutt’s final jump, he matched his distance from the second jump with another 15.96. Honeycutt remained in 16th place at the conclusion of the event.
The 12th place and final jumper to qualify for the finals was USC’s Eric Sloan, who jumped a 16.24 meters.
Matthew O’Neal had the top jump of the day with a 16.97 meters his final preliminary jump.
Reigning Olympic champion Christian Taylor finished third in preliminaries.
