PITTSBURG, Kansas – Just two months ago, Annika Esvelt had never run a 5,000-meter race on the track.
 
Now, she's an All-American at that same distance.
 
The Seattle Pacific standout posted a personal-best time of 16 minutes, 31.12 seconds on Friday, taking eighth place at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
 

Racing on the 300-meter flat oval inside the Robert W. Plaster Center at Pittsburg State University, Esvelt, who came in as the No. 8 seed, ran with the lead pack right from  the starting gun. Even as a couple other runners from the chase pack gradually moved ahead of her, Esvelt still had enough left to hang on for the final spot on the awards podium.
 
"I tried to put myself in a good position, and that's what I did," Esvelt said. "I knew it went out a lot faster than I was used to, and I was pretty sure I was going to die at some point. So I just went until I couldn't anymore, and I did not fall off enough to lose that many places. So I'm really happy with it."

Along with that podium position goes first-team All-American status for Esvelt, an academic sophomore, but a freshman for indoor track eligibility.
 
"What I saw out there was she ran with a lot of confidence, and that's kind of what she has been doing all season," Falcons associate head coach / distance coach Chris Reed said. "She wasn't scared of anyone or intimidated by anyone. For someone to make her first NCAA meet and run with that level of courage was really inspiring.
 
"She didn't run just to get on the podium – she ran for more," Reed added. "She hit a little bit of a wall the last few laps, but I'm really proud of the fact that she put herself I that position and held on for the last podium spot. What a great experience."
 
Esvelt's time was just speedy enough to beat her qualifying mark of 16:31.74, which she posted on Jan. 28 in Seattle at the UW Invitational. That race at Dempsey Indoor was her first track 5K, indoors or outdoors and was the second-fastest indoor time in school history. For two weeks afterward, it also was the second-fastest time in the country for D2.
 
 

"When she ran as well as she did in that first race, I knew what she did today was possible," Reed said. "This can be a hard sport to predict sometimes, so it's important for us to be in the moment and do the best with the opportunity before us. And that's what she did today: She gave herself an opportunity."
 
Friday's performance further solidifies her grip on that No. 2 spot, behind only the record time of 16:12.65 set in 2009 by Jessica Pixler.
 
"I was definitely hoping for a PR, or even under 163:30 would have been good," Esvelt said. "But I'm still happy with my time. I would say I was a little more nervous than usual, but not out of control or anything. Mostly, I was just excited to have the opportunity to go fast."
 
As expected, sophomore Brianna Robles of Colorado's Adams State won with room to spare. She came as the top seed with the top time of 16:03.76, and ran even faster than that, coming across the finish line in 16:00.98. That was both a meet record and a facility record.
 
Esvelt won both the 5000 and 3000 at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships last month in Spokane.
 
With the eighth-place finish, Esvelt scored one team point for Seattle Pacific. That makes it 18 times in 37 NCAA indoor meets that the Falcons have gotten into the scoring column.
 
NOW, IT'S ALL ABOUT OUTDOORS
Frtiday's race was the last one of the indoor season for the Falcons. The outdoor schedule gets started on Saturday in Tacoma at the PLU Open on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University. Field events start at 10:00 a.m., and running at 11:00. The first race for SPU will be the 4-by-100 relay at 11:40.
 

NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
NCAA Division II Championships
Friday, March 11, 2022
Robert W. Plaster Center / Pittsburg, Kansas

SPU EVENTS ONLY
800 – 1, Brianna Robles (Adams State) 16:00.98 (meet record, facility record). SPU – 8, Annika Esvelt 16:31.12.