EUGENE — Another Olympic trials, another first-place finish in the 1,500 meters for Cole Hocker.

The former Oregon Ducks star turned on the jets in the final 400 to secure victory and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team Monday at Hayward Field, posting a meet record and personal best time of 3 minutes, 30.59 seconds.

“Gut feeling,” Hocker said of his final push, which he said wasn’t pre-planned. “I knew I never wanted to fall out of that top five. Just be right there. I knew Yared (Nuguse) and Hobbs (Kessler) were going to be the ones to watch, so just followed them. I’ve never excelled at that pace before. You could have told me that was a 3:35 race and I would have believed you.”

The race began with eventual second-place finisher Nuguse (3:30.86) setting the pace out front, with the third-place Kessler (3:31.53) hovering in the top five. Hocker was in the mix throughout and made a push on the penultimate stretch to break out ahead.

• WATCH: The best way to see every event of the USA Olympic trials for under $6 is by signing up for Peacock Premium ($5.99/month), NBC’s low-cost streaming service. Top events will also be broadcast live on NBC and USA Network. If you don’t already have cable, you can still watch some of those events live for free with Fubo (free trial) or with DirecTV Stream (free trial).

As they headed down the home stretch, Hocker said, he thought cheers from the Hayward crowd were for another runner gaining on him. Although Nuguse put up a fight in the final stretch, it seemed more likely a friendly Eugene crowd elated for a former Duck’s second appearance at the Olympics.

“I couldn’t believe it, but I’ve played that race a thousand times in my head,” Hocker said. “For it to happen like that was incredible. I heard the crowd getting louder and louder and thought someone must be gaining on me. It helped me go through the line as hard as I could.”

Hocker heads to Paris after finishing sixth in the 1,500 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and seventh at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, in 2023.

Two other Ducks participated in the event: current Oregon junior Elliott Cook, who placed eighth with a personal best of 3:33.84; and former Oregon runner Cooper Teare, who finished 10th in 3:35.17.

Cook’s time is also the second-fastest ever by a University of Oregon man.

“I’ve never been in a race that fast,” Cook said. “It was just unbelievable to see the gap those guys gained on me. Come to the finish line not really paying attention to how fast we were running, but ... it was unbelievable. The crowd. There’s a lot of processing I still need to do. It’s mixed emotions right now, I wished I’d placed a little bit higher, but to come away from a messy race like that and still have a personal best is awesome.”

-- Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference for The Oregonian and co-hosts the Soccer Made in Portland and Ducks Confidential podcasts. He can be reached at rclarke@oregonian.com or @RyanTClarke.

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