EUGENE, Ore. – Much like Christ School, there will be two versions of the record book at Wake Forest University – before and after Rocky Hansen ’23.
While much of the country was engrossed in Friday night’s United States-Paraguay World Cup match, Rocky came within a second of winning a national championship at the NCAA Championship Track Meet.
He was the runner-up in his specialty race – the 5,000-meter run (13:39.91) – to New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel (13:38.93), the same runner who surged past Rocky late in last fall’s NCAA Cross Country Championship. Afterwards in interviews, Rocky called Friday his best race in three years of NCAA competition and praised Samuel for his world-class endurance and race tactics.
Two national runner-up finishes in one calendar year by a distance athlete is a first for Wake Forest, and Rocky becomes only the second Demon Deacon to earn All-American track recognition three times. Rocky holds Wake Forest records for the 1,500 meters (3:35.75) and 5,000 (13:07.77).
Rocky is a junior from Hendersonville, N.C. He has been one of Christ School’s most successful alumni in the early stages of the NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) era through partnerships with the Garmin sports watch brand and On running company.
His parents, Molly and Jacob, were trackside in Eugene to watch Friday’s race.