Snow gave way to sunny skies in Bozeman, Mont., Friday afternoon, and the NAU distance crew shined, as expected, both at thre start and the finish of Day 1.
The Lumberjacks started off the day with freshman Karrie Baloga winning the women’s steeplechase in 10:16.87, three seconds ahead of second place Idaho’s Katka Pattis. That margin, while large, was not indicative of how much Baloga dominated. At one point in the 3,000-meter race, she was nearly half a track length ahead, but Pattis delivered a nice kick to make it closer.
Then, in the day’s final event, the 10,000 meters, NAU junior Cael Grotenhuis upset the two favorites, Ben Perrin and Matthew Richtman of Montana State. Grotenhuis led almot wire-to-wire and dropped Perrin with a mile to go. The Wisconsin native finished in 29:39.28, almost 45 seconds faster than second-place Richtman. Perrin faded to third, and NAU freshman Zack Munson gained points for the Lumberjacks with a fourth-place finish. Grotenhuis ran even paced throughout the race and looked metronomic, until he crossed the finish line, collapsed on the track and foamed at the mouth.
In the women’s 10,000, it was a two-runner race involving NAU’s Anna Fenske and Ruby Smee. The two traded front-running duties and gapped the field early on. They stayed together until the final two laps, when Fenske slowly pulled away for the win in 34:46.12; Smee finished at 34:48.77.
The prelims for the 1,500 meters was almost embarrassingly dominated by NAU runners. No less than seven NAU women qualified for Saturday’s finals: Annika Reiss, Nikita Moore, Maggi Congdon, Gracelyn Larkin, Bryn Morley, Ava Mitchell, Keira Moore and Baloga. (Baloga doubled back less than 45 minutes after winning the steeple.)
The Lumberjack men also dominated the 1,500 prelims, though not to thre extent of the women. Six NAU runners advanced: Nico Young, Aaron Las Heras, Caleb Easton, Colin Sahlman, Brodey Hasty and Kang Nyoak. Freshman Ford Washburn barely missed the time qualifiers.
Young didn’t mess around in his heat. He took the lead almost from the gun and ran just fast enough not to relinquish it. His time: 3:43.12, merely a tempo run for him. Las Heras was as far back as fifth in the same heat on the backstretch, but exhibited a strong kick and inside move to finish second.
In the second heat, Montana State’s Rob McManus doubled back after winning the steeplechase to earn the victory, but after that, it was a sea of white, blue and yellow NAU singlets. Easton, Sahlman and Hasty placed second, third and fourth, respectively, with Sahlman appearing to treat the race like a workout.
In the 800 meters prelims, Young and Sahlman ran just fast enough to finish in the top two of their respective heats and automatically qualify for Saturday’s final. All five of the NAU women in the 800 ngdon, Reiss, Nikita Moore, Keira Moore, Odessa Zentz — advanced to the finals.
Finally, the day ended with the 10,000-meter final. Young, the NCAA recordholder, did not compete and won’t compete in the event in the NCAAs, opting to focus on the Olympic Trials in late June. But NAU got the win it needed to gain points for the conference final thanks to Grotenhuis’ big effort.
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