The Wisconsin track distance runners timed well against some of the best U.S. collegiate and professional athletes at the elite Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford Sunday.
UW distance runners that did not compete at Oregon last week went up against distance powerhouses such as Oregon, Arizona State, Texas, Colorado and UTEP.
In the 1,500 meter run, sophomore Jack Bolas, freshman Evan Jager and sophomore Craig Miller finished fourth through sixth among college athletes in 3 minutes 41.21 seconds, 3:41.24 and 3:41.61, respectively.
Miller, Jager and Bolas each cut about a second off their old personal bests of 3:42. UW alum Matt Tegenkamp, who runs for Nike and is currently training for the Olympic Trials, won his heat with the second-fastest 1,500 meter run of the meet in 3:40.04.
Sophomore Brandon Bethke placed eighth in his heat of the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 8:53.00, with sophomore teammate Ryan Gasper close behind in 9:01.43 for 12th.In the 5,000 meters, sophomore Andrew Lacy took 13th in his heat in 14:06.65, meeting the NCAA Mideast regional standard.
Junior Christian Wagner made his outdoor debut in the 10,000 meters and hit an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 29:00.12, placing 16th place in his heat, or ninth among collegiate runners.
Three UW women's distance runners qualified in the 5,000 meters.
Senior Katrina Rundhaug placed 14th in the top section to earn a regional qualifying time of 16:18.99. She was sixth amongst college runners.
Junior Ashley Benson won the second heat of the 5,000 in 16:11.38, putting her third among collegians. Sophomore Alicia Pabich placed eighth in that heat in 16:23.70, also well under the 16:52 regional standard.
Senior Ann Deter placed fifth in section three of the 800 meters in 2:13.06, while junior Sarah Hurley took third in section 4 of the 1,500 meter run in 4:31.31. The most impressive performance of the meet came from Nike runner and North Carolina graduate Shalane Flanagan, who set an American record in the 10,000 meters, winning the race in 30:34.49 to best the old record by 17 seconds.
- uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
