SEATTLE – The 5000 meters is still Annika Esvelt's favorite indoor track race. It's also her best race.
 
But the Seattle Pacific senior also has a liking for – and is pretty darn good at – the 3000 meters, as well.
 
Now, she will get to run both at the NCAA Division II Championships in Indianapolis.
 
Esvelt's doubling up in the distance events became official on Tuesday afternoon when she was announced as a participant in both races at next week's meet at Fall Creek Pavilion. The 5K is set for Thursday at 3:15 p.m. Pacific time, the penultimate event on Day 1. The 3K is Saturday at 1:40 p.m. Pacific.
 
Although the official selections weren't posted until Tuesday, there was no doubt whatsoever surrounding Esvelt's status. The top 18 declarations in each individual event are invited. Esvelt ranks No. 4 in the 5000 and No. 9 in the 3000 – well above the cutoff line in both.
 
Esvelt earned her bid for the 5000 with the school indoor record time of 16 minutes, 9.93 seconds that she posted at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston on Dec. 7.
 
 

"When we ran that 16:09 back in December, we knew that was going to stay pretty high on the list over the course of the season," Falcons assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen said. "The 5K is going to be the event that we're really going after. Then whatever we can do in the 3K, it's whatever you've got left. I think it being a (Winter Sports) Festival this year, having an extra day in between is going to help in getting some recovery from the 5K."
 
Of the three runners seeded ahead of Esvelt, two of then – No. 1 Jenna Ramsey Rutledge of Colorado Mines at 15:40.98 and No. 2 Tristian Spence of Adams State (Colorado) at 15:53.52 – posted their times in that same meet. Hannah Hartwell of Fort Lewis (Colorado), ran her third-seeded time of 16;08.22 on Feb. 14.
 
"We'll see who's fit – it should be a good race," Hansen said. "Based on the workouts Annika has been doing, she'll see herself in the mix. It's just a matter of who's got it on that day."
 
 

Esvelt comes into the 3000 with a time of 9 minutes, 24.80 seconds in the UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor on Jan. 31. That was eight-plus seconds faster than her previous best of 9:33.10 posted just two weeks earlier on the same Dempsey oval. Her intent on the night of the Invite was to get below 9:30 and get below last year's national cutoff time of 9:29.18, ultimately accomplishing both goals with room to spare.
 
At the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Feb. 18 in Spokane, Esvelt won her third title in the 3K, pulling away to win in 9:43.88. That came after she won the mile for the first time.
 
This will be Esvelt's third trip to the indoor nationals. She ran the 5000 last year, bouncing back from a fall with about 400 meters left and placing 10th to earn second-team All-America status. In 2022, she was eighth in the 5K, making her a first-team All-American.
 
 
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