SOUTH BEND — Every dream has an origin story.
For Notre Dame senior Samuel Voelz, his initially grew roots roughly a decade ago, unbeknownst even to himself.
His running journey began taking shape long before he became a 2017 IHSAA track and field state champion for New Palestine High School in the 800-meter race.
The foundation was set years prior to his prayers finally being answered as he worked his way up from NCAA Division-III Depauw to South Bend where he’s been named a three-time All-American.
His future was actually foreshadowed with a simple gift from his father, James.
“It’s kind of funny. My dad printed out a big picture of Hayward Field for me. He printed it off for me when I was in, I think, the sixth grade, and he put it in a frame. It was my birthday present one year, and I hung that above my bed,” Voelz recalled.
“I had it above my bed all the way until this past year. And when I was moving out of my college house to move into a different one, the frame broke and the picture fell out. I thought it was fitting because this was the year I finally made it out to Eugene and got to see the track.”
Voelz didn’t just take in the sights while at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., this past week. Instead, he was a 2021 Tokyo Olympic hopeful, and he nearly made the U.S. Olympic Team cut.
Competing in three rounds of races over four days during the 2020 Olympic Team Trials, Voelz reached the 800-meter race finals on Monday and finished sixth in 1 minute, 45.54 seconds, which set both a Notre Dame program record and a new standard for the fastest Hoosier to ever run the event.
Voelz set a new personal-best in the 800 during Saturday’s semifinal round with a 1:46.39. His time on Monday, however, was even better.
Voelz shattered the previous Olympic Trials record time ever set by an Indiana competitor, which was established by Shelbyville’s Daniel Kuhn (Indiana University) at 1:46.06 in 2018.
“It’s really nice to have a 1:45 by your name,” Voelz said.
In the first round of competition, Voelz ran a 1:48.49 on Friday, June 18. On Monday, his first 400-meter split time put him in contention for the Olympic standard at 52.10, but he came up just short late behind Brannon Kidder, who finished in 1:45.08.
“Definitely, unexpected. I was just lucky to be in that last race honestly. I raced well in the race leading up to it, but there’s still just a bunch of talented runners out there in the field of 32, so I was just pretty dumbfounded to find myself in the final eight,” Voelz remarked.
“It felt like a normal race because I had nothing to lose. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose, so I kind of went in with the mentality of enjoy it, take in the experience, share the moment with my friends, family, but then I knew once I stepped on that line, it was going to be a fast race.”
Clayton Murphy proved Voelz correct, winning the finals in 1:43.17. The former 2016 Olympic bronze medalist beat USC’s Isaiah Jewett (1:43.85) and Bryce Hoppel (1:44.14) with Isaiah Harris in fourth at 1:44.58.
Voelz was two spots ahead of 2019 world champion Donavan Brazier, who took eighth in 1:47.88.
“I know he wasn’t in his form, but it’s nice to have that notch in my belt,” Voelz said. “It was strength and speed as we always say at Notre Dame. A lot of that work that goes into the winter and the fall leading up to the track season. You can make all the excuses you want, but if you’re not putting in the base miles and you’re not doing the tempo runs building up to it, you’re not going to have any gas in the tank with 200 to go.”
Voelz’s fuel during the Olympic Trials stemmed from a disappointing 2021 NCAA Championships on the same historic track more than a week earlier.
A 2021 First Team All-American in the indoor men’s 800, Voelz placed 10th overall in the outdoor semifinals at Hayward Field, finishing just .02 seconds short of a spot in the finals.
He earned Second Team All-American status for the event, giving him a third Division-I distinction after earning first team honors in 2019 with the Fighting Irish’s national championship men’s distance medley relay team.
“I think, going in I was heavily favored to make it out of the prelims and go to the finals there, but I kind of messed up and did some wrong things in the race and found myself on the wrong side of the race. I found myself the first person out of the finals, so that really helped me refocus and get my motivation back and want to prove something at the trials,” Voelz said.
Adversity is nothing new for Voelz, who once told his father and mother, Krysha, in junior high school that one day he would run at Notre Dame, but he was forced to take the long road there.
Despite winning an IHSAA state title as a high school senior and placing fifth at the New Balance nationals in the 800 to earn All-American honors, Voelz started out at DePauw University where he was fourth in the 800 during the Division-III NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
The next year, his first dream became a reality as the Irish and distance running coach Sean Carlson welcomed Voelz to Notre Dame.
From that moment on, Voelz immediately checked off goal after goal.
In 2019, he was named All-ACC First Team with the men’s distance medley relay team, was part of the ACC champion relay group and won the ACC title in the 800 for indoor the next season in 2020.
This season, he finished fourth in the 800 during the NCAA Indoor Championship at the University of Arkansas in a time of 1:47.62, which was the second fastest in Notre Dame program history.
Much like the poster hanging in his room for the past 10 years, every accolade was leading to something bigger.
“The goal was just to make the trials, have an opportunity to kind of showcase everything I’ve been working towards for the past few years, but now, all of a sudden, the goal has changed,” Voelz admitted.
“Now, the goals are, make the Olympic team next time the trials are around. Win the NCAAs. It’s a double-edged sword. When you perform really well, it’s fun, but then, your performances become your expectations. I was relishing the experience this time, but everything has changed now going forward.”
Voelz embraced the moment and those who attended the Olympic Trials to support him more than 2,200 miles away from his hometown.
In between the 2021 NCAA Championships and Olympic Trials, Voelz stayed on the west coast preparing and recovering. His parents trekked out to meet their son for the trials, and former New Palestine coaches Chuck Myers and Eric Branch also made the trip.
“That was the best. Having my coaches out there knowing they spent the money, spent the time this Father’s Day that meant the world to me,” Voelz said. “Just seeing all the love and support I’ve received on Facebook, through my parents, through the high school, that means a lot to me. I truly believe that’s what helps me push further and keeps me knowing the right reason I’m doing it for.”
With one more year of eligibility, Voelz is seeking more in 2021-22 at Notre Dame as a graduate student.
He wants to chase down a potential NCAA outdoor title in the 800 and perhaps top his own Notre Dame record along the way before venturing into the real world. He has already secured employment with Kaufman Hall and Associates, LLC, a healthcare management consulting company in Chicago, beginning in August 2022.
“You know what, I think I might have been more nervous about my interviews and stuff for a full-time job,” Voelz said. “You can control more in running, basically where you run faster or run slower, but then in job interviews, you never know what the person across the table is thinking about you, so yeah, I think I was more nervous for job interviews than the trials.”
While the future is unknown, Voelz isn’t ruling out another attempt at making the next U.S. Olympic Team either.
“Trials will be in three years. They’ll have world championships and stuff, but I don’t know exactly how that will work, but if it’s trials, then it just depends on my time, but at least you know in the community, you have your eyes set on every four years,” Voelz said.
“As of now, I’m still pretty realistic in my expectations of how I’ll most likely go and say goodbye to running after school is over at Notre Dame, but there’s also a part of me that is just competitive and is asking, what if? I keep wondering, what if I get faster? So, there’s a lot of uncertainty around what I’ll be doing right after school.”
As for this past week, he won’t soon forget the picture that’s now permanently etched into his memory.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime memory. I think, it might be one of those things, before I get married and have kids, where if I had my life flash before eyes, that would probably be a memory I would think of,” Voelz said. “It’s pretty emotional running around the track, doing my stride out for the first race and looking up and seeing my parents and coaches up there.”
