Three of University of Southern Indiana’s alumni are set to compete in the 2020 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta, Georgia this Saturday Feb. 29.
The competitors are Jamie Adkins ’16, Julia Kohnen ’15 and Tyler Pence ’15.
Adkins was an All-American for USI track & field in the 10,000 meters when she finished 12th at the 2016 NCAA II Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a time of 36 minutes, 36.54 seconds to close out her senior year as a Screaming Eagle. In December 2019, Adkins narrowly got her OTQ (Olympic Trial Qualifier) at the California International Marathon with a time of 2:44:48 which snuck underneath the OTQ ‘B’ Standard (sub-2:45:00) placing 70th out of 3259 female participants.
Kohnen obtained All-America honors in cross country and track & field and was named All-GLVC as USI soccer player as well. In cross country, Kohnen earned her accolade for finishing 11th at the 2015 NCAA II Championships with a six-kilometer time of 21:33.70. Kohnen then finished fifth (16:47.61) and runner-up (34:45.08) at the 2015 NCAA II Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, respectively. Kohnen first received her OTQ ‘B’ standard first in the 2017 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:39:11. Then, she followed it up by grabbing an OTQ ‘A’ standard (Sub-2:37:00) en route to being named the 2019 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon champion with a time of 2:31:29. Kohnen’s Twin Cities Marathon time made her the 24th fastest woman in the 2020 Olympic Trials field.
Pence, the current head coach for both the cross country/track & field teams for University of Illinois-Springfield is the most decorated runner in USI history.  He was a two-time national champion in track, winning the indoor 5,000m and outdoor 10,000m as a junior. He accumulated nine All-American awards across both cross country and track & field during his time as a Screaming Eagle. Pence received his OTQ ‘B’ standard (sub-2:19:00), like Adkins, at the 2019 California International Marathon with a time of 2:15:36.
The trials field is composed of 778 total runners (513 women, 265 men) with the top three finishers from each race representing the United States in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials air live on NBC, NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app on Saturday from Atlanta. Coverage runs from 11:00 A.M.-2:00 P.M. (CST) with the men’s race slated to start at 11:08 A.M. (CST) followed by the women’s at 11:20 A.M. (CST).
