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IU McKinney 3L Jordan Kyle was among the elite runners who completed the U.S. Olympic Team Marathon Trials on February 13 in Los Angeles.

“It was amazing,” Kyle said of the experience. “In college I raced in the NCAA Division I Championships, but I have never raced in an event of this caliber. All of the runners who compete are extremely talented, hardworking individuals.” Kyle is shown at the trials in the photo.

Kyle battled the Los Angeles smog and the hottest temperatures ever for an Olympic Marathon Trials to finish with a time of 2:38:20, a pace of 6:03 minutes per mile for the 26.2 mile race. In the brutal conditions, 37 percent of the race’s starters did not finish.

“Jordan’s performance was inspiring,” IU McKinney Professor Frank Sullivan, Jr., said. “By completing this incredibly difficult race, he showed himself to be among the nation’s top marathoners.” Sullivan said that Kyle’s performance was made all the more impressive by the fact that he trained in cold weather and at a low elevation while a full-time law school student. Sullivan attended the Trials as a spectator.

“Balancing law school and distance running has been a true test of prioritization,” Kyle said. He estimates he spends over 20 hours a week on training. It’s not something he plans to give up after law school is over, either.

“At this point in my life, I've worked far too hard and endured way too much to simply give it up at the sight of a career,” Kyle said. “I think that if I was able to manage law school and training, then I can continue to train while working.”

Kyle is a three-time NCAA Division I All American; once at Indiana University and twice at Colorado University. From Fishers, Indiana, Kyle won his right to compete in the trials with a 1:04:58 time in the half marathon at the Indianapolis Monumental in November 2015. To qualify for the Olympic Trials itself is a remarkable achievement; across the nation, only 246 women and 211 men qualified to compete in the Trials.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon winner Janet Bawcom scored an impressive fifth place finish in the Trials. Bawcom, who is originally from Kapsabet, Kenya, is an avid supporter of the law school’s work with the Legal Aide Centre of Eldoret in Kenya.

The three top finishers will represent the United States at the Olympics in Brazil in August 2016. They are Galen Rupp of Portland, Oregon, Meb Keflezighi of San Diego, California, and Jared Ward of Provo, Utah. Keflezighi, perhaps the most celebrated American marathoner of all time, qualified for his fourth Olympic team on the eve of his 41st birthday. He will run the 2016 OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon on May 7.