NAU’s men’s distance contingent once more showed its prowess Friday night in the NCAA West Regionals, as Colin Sahlman advanced to the nationals in the 1,500 earlier in the day and then the 5,000-meter trio of Nico Young, Cael Grotenhuis and Brodey Hasty qualified for the nationals in the evening’s last race.
Young’s advancement was expected, of course, and he cruised to second place in heat 2 behind Oklahoma State’s Brian Musau in 13:48.44, less than a second behind. Hasty also got the automatic qualifier in the same heat, placing fourth in 13:50.25.
In the first heat of the 5,000, Grotenhuis, coming off a strong race Wednesday night to qualify for the 10,000 meters at the nationals, finished sixth in 13:50.59, but he advanced with the top non-qualifying time.
Sahlman battled it out with Washington’s Joe Waskom in his heat, as Waskom put on a kick in hte final lap to win, 3:39.83 to 3:40.09. Both runners are capable of running much faster and will have to in two weeks in Eugene, Ore.
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