SEATTLE – Annika Esvelt will travel almost 2000 miles to race 5000 meters.
 
But to the Seattle Pacific senior, it'll be well worth the trip.
 
Esvelt was officially announced on Tuesday afternoon as having earned a place in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. The meet is set for next Friday and Saturday, March 8-9, at Pittsburg State University's Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas.
 
The women's 5K is scheduled for Day 1 of the two-day meet at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Esvelt comes into Kansas as the No. 15 seed among the 20 entries with the time of 16 minutes, 31.43 seconds at the Husky Classic on Feb. 9. On that night, her performance ranked No. 11 on the D2 national list, but it was down to No. 17 – one spot below the "desired minimum" of 16 entries – following last week's conference meets and last-chance qualifiers.
 
Given the very high quality of this year's crop of 5000-meter runners, it was likely that more than 16 would be accepted – and that ultimately became the case, with the maximum of 20 selected. But when two of the runners above Esvelt did not declare for that event, she moved back "above the line" to No. 15, guaranteeing her a spot in the race.

 

Now that's she's officially in the meet, SPU assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen believes Esvelt can put together the kind of race that could get her a place on the top-8 awards podium.
 
  "She's feeling good and feeling confident," Hansen said. "All the times are pretty close to each other. We know it's going to come down to who's got it on that day, as it usually does. She's in a good spot mentally and physically, and ready to go."

Esvelt has raced around the 300-meter Plaster Center oval once before. That was in the 2022 NCAAs, and she finished an All-American eighth place in an indoor personal best of 16:31.12. Her overall PB of 16:14.31 was recorded outdoors at the West Coast Relays in Fresno, California, on April 1, 2022.

 

"The type of runner she is, the longer the race, the stronger she gets," Hansen said. "The 3K is harder to qualify in (Esvelt did beat the provisional time with a 9:41.62, but that was No. 29 on the list). The 5K we figured was our best shot of getting there and hopefully have a shot of getting on the podium and scoring some points for the team.
 
"I know the 5K coming into the season was her big goal," he added, "so I'm glad she's getting a chance to go after it at the national meet."
 
Senior Brianna Robles of Adams State (Colorado) will be the big favorite to win. She comes in at 15:53.49. That's nearly 14 seconds ahead of No. 2 seed Florence Uwajeneza, a senior from West Texas A&M.
 
Aiming for a spot on the podium, the No. 8 entry time is 16:22.32 by Jenna Ramsey-Rutledge from Colorado School of Mines.
 
"Between now and nationals, it's working on any little thing that she wants a little more confidence in," Hansen said. "We're really practicing some scenarios that we want to be ready for. She has raced at Pitt State before, so she has a good experience to go off of as far as visualizing before we even get there."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
With Vanessa Aniteye having completed her eligibility last winter after winning the NCAA indoor 800 meters title, who'll occupy the top step of the podium this time?
 
The top seed is junior Alaysia Brooke of Ursuline (Ohio) at 2 minutes, 6.64 seconds. (Aniteye's winning time was 2:06.84.) Close behind are Adams State senior Jessica Simon (2:07.76) and Colorado Mines senior Aryelle Wright (2:07.79).
 
Helen Braybrook from Colorado State Pueblo, who stayed on Aniteye's heels all the way to the finish line, ultimately finishing just two-tenths of a second behind her, did not race this winter. She was 24th at the NCAA cross country championships in November.
 
Third-place Taryn Chapko of Grand Valley State, seventh-place Isabelle Marsh of Adelphi, and eighth-place Ines Macadam of Tiffin are all back.
 
Aniteye is now training in Germany with the aim of earning a relay spot for this summer's Paris Olympics.


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