It’s All in the Numbers for Patrick Tiernan ’17, Olympian

Published by College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on July 5th, 2016

Mathematics major Patrick Tiernan is used to dealing with numbers—not only in class but on the track, where one second can be the difference between going to the Olympics or watching them on TV.

In May 2016, Patrick came within a second of posting the qualifying time for the men’s 5000 meter event. (In Olympic track & field, athletes must not only perform well at the Olympic Trials but also reach a qualifying time standard in order to compete.)

After a third place finish at NCAAs in June, Patrick was still that one second short. He headed to Europe and raced three times over 11 days to position himself for a final shot at Rio. He succeeded, achieving a time of 13:20.88 at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland.