SEATTLE – First time. Fast time. 
 
Or, in the case of Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt, … 
 
… a really fast time. 
 
Falcons sophomore Esvelt, who until Friday night had never run a 5000-meter race on any kind of track, indoors or outdoors, made her inaugural effort one to remember. 

 

Competing against primarily NCAA Division I runners at the UW Invitational, Esvelt put herself into the lead chase pack with three others. Then on the final lap, she broke away from all of them, taking second place and stopping the watch in an eye-popping time of 16 minutes, 31.74 seconds at Dempsey Indoor. 
 
How eye-popping? 
 
Try the second-fastest in SPU indoor history eye-popping. Try second-fastest this season in all of NCAA Division II eye-popping.
 
"I was like, if I even get a sub-17:10, I'd be happy," Esvelt said. "So with that, I'm really happy today. I did not expect to be that fast."
  
Esvelt already has put a pair of solid 3000-meter races into the book this season. The second of those came on Jan. 15 at the UW Indoor Preview on the same 307-meter Dempsey oval. Her time that day of 9:51.80 ranks No. 17 in D2. That is a provisional qualifying time, but would be right on the bubble for getting into the national meet. 
 
Her 5K time on Friday, as might be expected, is nowhere near the bubble. The provisional standard is 17:26.42; the current "bubble time" (16^th overall on the national list) is 17:15.85. Heading into this weekend, the national leader is Celine Ritter of Lee (Tennessee) at 16:23.46.
 
Falcons associate  head coach / distance coach Chris Reed said running in the 16s was no surprise, but running that low into the 16s exceeded everyone's expectations.
 
 

"From a training standpoint, I knew she could (be in the 16s). From a mindset standpoint, I knew she could," Reed said. "It was just from an experience standpoint that I wasn't sure – she had never run a 5K on the track, and certainly, the Dempsey configuration (with it's odd 307-meter distance) can be confusing, because it's hard to know where you are sometimes.
 
"But once she got into racing the right people and once we saw Annika be the kind of competitor that she is, it started to become more and more realistic."
 
"Racing the right people" was a pack of four that included Esvelt, two from Utah State and one from Bradley, while Utah's Cara Woolnough was way out in front of everyone, and Brigham Young's Ana Weaver was solidly in second most of the way.
 
With just three of the 16-plus laps remaining, Esvelt had taken over third place by herself, and was closing in on Weaver. With two left, she was second, and was still second as she began the bell lap, though Weaver was right there with her. Coming down the stretch, Esvelt nudged back in front. Her 16:31.74 was just enough to beat Weaver's 16:32.75. Woolnough won it in 16:13.41.
 
"Partway through the race, Chris was saying, 'Stay on the inside for this,' and that was really good for me," Esvelt said. "I just worked off the other girls' energy.
 
As for shattering her now-modest goal of just breaking 17:10?
 
"I think I'm still processing," Esvelt said. "I'm just amazed that I've been feeling this good for this long amount of time through last season and this season. I'm seriously shocked, I think – that's so fast compared to what I used to do."
 
Per the school record book, Esvelt is just the fifth Seattle Pacific woman to break 17 minutes for an indoor 5000. The record belongs to Falcons Hall of Famer Jessica Pixler, who clocked 16:12.65 in 2009 – also at the UW Invitational.
 
In fact, all five sub-17s have some at the UW Invite: Jane Larson's 16:55.02 (also in 2009), Karin Dickson's 16:46.34 (2005) and Dania Holmberg's 16:49.07 (2020).
 
Esvelt's time now ranks No. 7 on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference list. The record – and the only sub-16 – is 15:28.46 by Alaska Anchorage's Caroline Kurgat in 2019, which also is a Division II all-time best.
 
As thrilled as Reed was with what Esvelt did, he was even more so with how she did it, beating 14 of the 15 Division I runners in the 19-runner field.
 
"The thing I'm most excited about is the way she raced and the way she managed and competed," he said. "She got second place in this meet, and this is a good meet. That's the level she's running at right now, and we're just glad that we were able to provide the opportunity to do it."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
--Falcons sophomore Jeff Gordon took another shot at the 22.46 school record for the men's 200-meter dash. But that will have to wait for another day, as he came across the finish line in 22.73. That gave him sixth place among the 23 competitors.
-- Sophomore Julius Shepherd recorded his first 200-meter time in the 22s, finishing in 22.88.
-- Sophomore Evan Carpenter won his heat of the 200, coming across in a personal-best of 23.12.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will have numerous entries in action on Saturday's final day of the UW Invitational. Running events start at 9:30 a.m., and field events at 10:00 a.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
UW Invitational
Friday, Jan. 28, 2022
Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Mia Brahe-Pedersen (Inner Circle Track Club) 24.32. SPU – 40, McKenzie Fletcher 27.10; 52, Charisma Smith 28.58.
5000 – 1, Cara Woolnough (Utah) 16:13.41. SPU – 2, Annika Esvelt 16:31.74#.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
UW Invitational
Friday, Jan. 28, 2022
Dempsey Indoor / Seattle, Wash.
 
Team scores – Not kept.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
200 – 1, Anthony Smith (UW) 21.61. SPU – 6, Jeff Gordon 22.73; 11, Julius Shepherd 22.88; 13, Evan Carpenter 23.12.
4000 distance medley relay – 1, Utah State 9:52.76. SPU – 10, Seattle Pacific (Brennan LeBlanc, Gabe Woodard, Isaiah Archer, Jon Owen) 11:00.68.