Everett Hackett of West Hartford placed 87th in Saturday’s race in Los Angeles.

Everett Hackett after finishing the Olympic Marathon Trials Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. Photo credit: Amby Burfoot (Submitted photo)

By Ronni Newton

West Hartford native Everett Hackett, a 2008 graduate of Hall High School where he is currently an assistant cross country and track and field coach, far exceeded his expectations at Saturday’s Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles with an 87th place finish.

According to Hall teacher and head cross country coach Jeff Billing, Hackett was seeded approximately 135th for the race that featured the top 164 marathoners from all over the country.

“Only 105 were able to finish as the heat proved too much for many of them. Everett outperformed his seed by almost 50 places. His time of 2:35:08 averages to almost exactly 6:00 per mile, for 26.2 miles in 80-degree heat,” Billing said in an email.

Galen Rupp of Portland, OR, was the winner in 2:11:12. Meb Keflezighi of San Diego was second in 2:12:20, following by Jason Ward of Provo, UT in 2:13:00.

In addition to coaching, Hackett currently works full time at Hall as a teaching assistant. Hackett qualified for the Olympic Trials by breaking 65:00 in the Jacksonville Half Marathon on Jan. 3, 2016. Hackett was 17th overall, seventh in his age group, in a time of 64:34 in Jacksonville. Hackett ran the Jacksonville Half Marathon with several other local residents, including fellow Hall alum Nick Aguila who missed the qualifying time by just over three minutes.

According to Billing, Hackett ran more than 4,000 miles in 2015.

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