Track & Field In Bay Area For Two Meets On Friday
March 27, 2013
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Four Oregon State track & field student-athletes will run in the Stanford Invitational while eight of their teammates will compete at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival when the Beavers head to the Bay Area for two meets this Friday.
On The Farm, junior Taylor Nowlin will run the 3,000m steeple while the rest of OSU's entries - sophomore Kinsey Gomez along with freshmen Kira Kelly and Emily Weber - will compete in the 5K. Current Oregon State assistant coach and former all-American Laura Carlyle will also be entered in the 5K at the prestigious meet in an attempt to PR in the event.
One of the premier races on the Beavers' 2013 schedule, the majority of participants at the Stanford Invitational are attempting to achieve a time that will place them in a good spot on the NCAA Division I West Qualifying List. The top 48 times in each of the country's two regions will earn berths at the NCAA Regional Preliminaries in late May and have the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field in early June.
Accepted times for the Stanford Invitational are difficult to attain and, because the focus is on qualifying for NCAA's, races aren't as tactical as one would find at other events when runners are trying to score points for their teams.
Kinsey Gomez, has had a great start to her 2013 season thus far. On March 2 at the UW Final Qualifier she ran 9:37.79 in the 3K, a 13-second PR, and came just short of eclipsing Carlyle's indoor 3K school record of 9:35.99 from the same event on March 5, 2011. Last Saturday, Gomez ran the seventh-fastest 1,500 meters in OSU history when she took home the title at the Whyte Track and Field Center with a mark of 4:30.45. That time ranks 33rd in the country so far this season.
Gomez's PR in the 5,000 is 17:11.58, which she ran at the Pacific Twilight on April 27 last season. In 2012, a time of under 16:33.00 would have placed in the top 50 of the NCAA West Region.
Kira Kelly and Emily Weber will be running their first collegiate 5K's at Stanford. Kelly ran the 9:56.81 in the indoor 3K at the UW Invite on Jan. 20 and has run the 1,500 twice thus far, registering times of 4:43.53 and 4:48.41. Weber, who ran a four-second PR in the 1,500 at the Oregon Preview on March 16, shaved three more ticks off that at the Whyte Track and Field Center on Saturday to finish second in 4:36.24.
Nowlin will also be running her event for the first time this season. The junior ran 10:46.47 to finish 15th at the Pac-12 Championships in 2012. A mark of 10:36.00 or better would have placed in the top 50 of the NCAA West Region a year ago.
The Beavers have had previous success at the Stanford Invite as three of the school's top 5K marks all-time have come at the meet in the past four years. On Friday, the three consecutive heats of the women's 3,000 steeple begin at 5:15 p.m. and the 5K heats are at 11:18 a.m., 7:07 p.m., 7:27 p.m. and 8:23 p.m.
The San Francisco State Distance Carnival has steadily improved alongside the event on The Farm and features another strong field this year. The Distance Carnival, which started as a low key three-event meet with around 100 athletes back in 2008, has progressed significantly over the past five years. This year's 891 athletes account for 124 teams representing nearly half of the 50 states.
Whitney Pitman and Chelsa McDonnell will run the 3,000-meter steeplechase in the meet at Cox Stadium, with Kelsi Schaer, Emily LaValley, Lacey London and Kristin Coffman in the 1,500 and Sandra Martinez and Aly Nielson in the 5K.
Pitman will race in the first section of her event at 11:44 a.m., with McDonnell in section two. Schaer and London will race in section one of the 1,500 at 10:22 a.m., while Coffman and LaValley will be together in section two. Both Martinez and Nielson are in the first section of the 5,000, which begins at 2:43 p.m.
Live results for the Stanford Invitational can be found here and the same for the Distance Carnival can be followed here. Additionally, there will be a live stream of the meet at Stanford, for a fee, courtesy of FloTrack, which can be found at this link.
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