NAU senior Annika Reiss is making the most of her senior season, and sophomore Colin Sahlman moved up in distance in impressive fashion.
Saturday night, Reiss won the Stanford Invitational 5,000 meters with ease, beating Oklahoma State’s Virgina Lagat by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, in the fastest heat of the collegiate men’s 5,000, Sahlman ran the final 800 meters in 2:04 to move from fourth place into the lead and eventually beat teammate Brody Hasty. Sahlman ran 13:38.96; Hasty 13:39.73.
Reiss’ 15:44.86 was his personal best, eclipsing her 15:49 PB set last April at the Bryan Clay Invitational. She finished second in that race in Los Angeles last year; this time, Reiss would not be denied.
Lumberjack women, following Reiss, finished fourth (Bryn Morley), fifth (Nikita Moore) nf sixth (Karrie Baloga) in the faster of the two college heats. Each of the three broke the 16-minute barrier. In the earlier heat, Keira Moore placed third at 16:10.90.
Earlier in the day, NAU’s Caleb Easton finished eighth in his heat at 13:56.48; Stanford’s Ky Robinson won in 13:35.95. In the evening session’s first heat, NAU’s Justin Keyes placed third in 13:53.12, and Erik Le Roux eighth in 13:58.85.
The evening in Palo Alto ended with the 10,000 meters. McKirdy Trained runner Dani Polerecky took another stab at the distance after a mishap two weeks ago at The Ten. This time, she finished second in 32:28.31. NAU runners Ali Upshaw (32:53.55) and Gracelyn Larkin (33:07.20) finished 11th and 16th in the race. In another heat, NAU’s Meagan Van Pelt was 13th (34:09).
Polerecky may have missed the Olympic Trials standard, but she redeemed herself from The Ten, when she was clipped from behind and lost her shoe.
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