SEATTLE – Annika Esvelt looks as if she could have kept right on running. But even someone as speedy as she is eventually gets to the finish line.
 
The Seattle Pacific standout got to the finish line of the 5000 meters in fast fashion last Friday at the UW Invitational, stopping the watch in 16 minutes, 31.74 seconds for the second-best time in all of NCAA Division II this winter. That has earned her another Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Track Athlete of the Week award.
 
In addition to ranking No. 2 on the current NCAA qualifying list, Esvelt's time was the second-fastest in SPU indoor history, behind only the 16:12.65 posted by Jessica Pixler, a Falcons Hall of Famer, in 2009.She is the first Seattle Pacific woman to break 17 minutes for an indoor 5000. Her performance also put her into the No. 7 slot on the GNAC's  list.
 
It was her first-ever 5000-meter race on the track, indoors or outdoors.
 
Running in a field of 18 that included 14 NCAA Division I competitors, Esvelt finished ahead of all of them except for Utah's Cara Woolnough, who was way in front of everybody and came across in 16:13.41.
 
"The thing I'm most excited about is the way she raced and the way she managed and competed," Falcons associate head coach / distance coach Chris Reed 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."
 
Esvelt, an academic sophomore but a freshman for indoor track eligibility, now has NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the 5000 and the 3000.
 
This was her second indoor track Athlete of the Week honor, to go along with the two that she earned during last fall's cross country season.