It was a productive night for NAU’s men’s distance group on the first night of qualifying at the NCAA West Regionals in Arkansas, as all three runners — Colin Sahlman in the 1,500 meters, and Aaron Las Heras and Cael Grotenhuis in the 10,000 meters — advanced.
For Las Heras and Grotenhuis, that means a trip to Eugene, Ore., in two weeks for the nationals. Sahlman will run Friday in the quarterfinals with a trip to Eugene at stake.
Running simply to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round in the Regionals, Sahlman easily accomplished that task, winning his heat over Washington’s Luke Hauser.
Sahlman immediately went to the lead pack to avoid any congestion and stayed in second place for the first three laps. Then, as if he is incapable of running slowly, Sahlman accelerated on the bell lap, running it in 54 seconds to overtake Hauser.
In the 10,000 meters Wednesday night, Las Heras and Grotenhuis ran a well-executed race to assure finishing in the top 12 to advance. For most of the race, the two ran in the extended lead pack, well within the top 12. With a mile and a half to go, Las Heras briefly surged into second place, but fell back and kept his pace. Grotenhuis followed him nearly the entire race.
Las Heras finished seventh in 28:38.05, Grotenhuis eighth in 28:42.97.
The NAU women take to thre track Thursday with numerous distance runners in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters and Karrie Baloga in the Steeplechase.
Leave a Reply