Nico Young’s celebrated distance running career at NAU ended with a second-place finish Friday night in the NCAA Outdoor Nationals, as North Carolina’s Parker Wolfe outkicked Young, who held off Stanford’s Ky Robinson to finish in second.
Earlier in the night, NAU sophomore Colin Sahlman, like Young, in the 1,500 meters final had the lead heading into the final turn but was outkicked. Washington’s Joe Waskom came from the outside to win and Sahlman was a close fourth.
In the 5,000, Young bided his time in a slow pace through two miles. At one point, it looked as though Young was being boxed in at the rail, but he deftly moved to the outside and, with a mile to go, settled in on the right shoulder of Robinson, the defending champion, as the pace heated up.
A 63-second third-to-last lap saw Young and Harvard’s Graham Blanks make their moves. Blanks went first, but Young answered that move and on the backstretch of the bell lap, Young overtook Blanks.
By that point, Young accelerated and seemed to put a little distance on the field. But it quickly tightened up, and Wolfe took control in the final 50 meters. Young then briefly fell behind Robinson in third, but he rallied at the end for second in 13:54.65. Wolfe won in 13:54.43.
For Wolfe, it was revenge from the NCAA Indoor Nationals, in which he finished second to Young in both the 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
Next for Young? The Olympic Trials, right back at Hayward Field, near the end of the month. He is likely to run the 10,000 meters, for which he has the Olympic standard.
Also in the 5,000, NAU’s Cael Grotenhuis finished ninth and senior Brodey Hasty 14th.
In the 1,500, Sahlman ran aggressively at the start, though the pack’s overall pace was on the slow side. He and Wisconsin’s Adam Spencer led after a 65-second first lap, but the pace picjked up to 2:04 by the 800-meter mark, with Washington’s Luke Houser in the lead but Sahlman right behind.
The third lap is where Sahlman started to make his move. He went slightly to the outside to move ahead of Houser, but five runners were still within a few tenths of a second of each other. At the bell lap, Sahlman and South Carolina’s Anass Essayi led, with Spencer close behind.
By the final turn, Sahlman was in full kick mode, but that was when the others started kicking as well. Oregon’s Elliott Cook sidled up on Sahlman’s left on the rail, and Spencer was closing in on his right. Meanwhile, Waskom went well into lane two but put on a surge after lurking for most of the race.
It was an all-out sprint in the final 50 meters, Sahlman windmilling his arms but seeming to tie up at the end, as Waskom and Cook battled for the victory and Spencer slipped by Sahlman for third.
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