Kyle King (left) and lil’ bro Tyler look fast even when standing still.
Kyle King celebrated Leap Day by going for a run with some of his friends.
Of course, said run just happened to take place on one of the biggest stages possible, as the Coupeville grad competed Saturday in Atlanta at the US Olympic Team Trials.
The former Wolf, a five-time state track and field champ in his days at CHS, finished 47th in a field of 222 runners, covering a 26.2 mile marathon course in 2:18:20.
King stayed strong throughout the race, throwing down his fastest leg in mile 18, which he ran in 4:58.
The top three finishers Saturday qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, with those spots going to Galen Rupp, Jacob Riley, and Abdi Abdiraham.
It’s the fourth-straight time Rupp has made it to the biggest sporting event in the world, having previously competed in Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
King, a 2008 Coupeville grad, qualified for the US Team Trials off of a stellar performance at the Eugene Marathon in April 2019.
The marathon dream he was chasing was a big one, as only one former Coupeville resident has made an Olympic team.
That came way back in 1920, when Eldon Jenne competed in the pole vault in Antwerp.
In real life, King is a Captain in the Marine Corps, currently stationed at the Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, where he’s an inspector/instructor.
He trained for the trials with a group of other local runners, “The Good Boys Run Club,” four of whom also made the trip to Atlanta.
Prior to the team trials, King ran at the Armed Forces Summer Games in China, where he claimed 8th out of 84 runners.
His recent exploits continues a life-long tear of running success.
While running for dad Randy at CHS, Kyle won state titles in the 3200 three straight years (2006-2008), added the 1600 crown in 2007, and ran a leg on a triumphant 4 x 400 relay unit in 2006.
After graduation, King competed as an NCAA D-I scholarship athlete at two schools – Eastern Washington University and the University of Oklahoma.
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