PUEBLO, Colo. – One final race. One final All-American honor for Annika Esvelt.
 
The fifth-year Seattle Pacific distance runner concluded her college career on Saturday afternoon, placing ninth in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
 
Esvelt completed her 12½ laps around the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl track in 17 minutes, 1.85 seconds on a day when the schedule was significantly altered because of the threat of thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening. The 5K originally was set for 8:05 p.m. Mountain time, but was moved up to 3:55 p.m.
 
The ninth-place finish earned second-team All-American. (The top eight places are first team; Nos. 9 through 12 are second team). It came on the heels of Esvelt's seventh-place finish in the 10,000 on Tuesday night.
 
Esvelt was part of Saturday's chase pack right from the get-go, as Adams State's Tristian Spence bolted to the lead and never slowed down. In fact, it was an Adams trio of Spence, steeplechase champion Ava O'Connor and 10K champion Brianna Robles who were 1-2-3 for most of the first 3000 meters. Spence (16:16.11) and O'Connor (16:28.14) stayed in those top two positions; Natalie Graber of Grand Valley State surged past Robles to take third.
 
Within the chase pack, Esvelt was ninth through the early going and moved up as high as sixth in the second half of the race.
 

She agreed that the race had a "grind-it-out" feel, which is typical for the 5000. It's the last individual race and comes on the final day of the meet atter most of the competitors (Esvelt included) have at least one other race under shoes, be it the 10,000, the 3000 steeplechase, or the 1500. In fact, winner Spence and third-place Graber were the only two ahead of Esvelt who were running on fresh legs.)
 
"Everyone was so tired, but it felt good," Esvelt said. "It was a good, hard effort and I felt good about it. Mostly, I ran pretty smart. I'm happy to have done it. The wind was pretty brutal; the heat was actually OK – for sure hot, but the wind was the worst part."
 
 

Added SPU assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen, "It was pretty aggressive right from the gun. Some of the athletes took it out real fast. They had a good chase pack going, kind of fighting for fourth and trying to reel in one or two of those other girls. It was a grind, for sure."
 
Esvelt finished with 11 All-American awards: six for outdoor track, four for indoor track, and one for cross country.
 
"Obviously an amazing career, and she has been running at this level for a long time," said Falcons assistant coach / distance coach Eric Hansen, who has worked with Esvelt for the past two years. "Seventh national meet – not a lot of runners can say that. … Even to come back this year and take a shot – that was pretty cool. We're  very proud of her and everything she has accomplished."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
Division II Championships
Saturday, May 24, 2025
CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl / Pueblo, Colo.
 
Top 10 team scores – 1, Grand Valey State 60; 2, Adams State 59; 3, Pittsburg State 54.5; T4, West Texas A&M and Fresno Pacific 35; 6, Minnesota State 32; 7, Central Washington 31; 8, Cal State San Bernardino 28; 9, Colorado State Pueblo and Missouri Southern 27.  SPU – T56, Seattle Pacific 2.
 
SPU EVENTS ONLY
5000 – 1, Tristian Spence (Adams State) 16:16.11.  SPU – 9, Annika Esvelt 17:01.85.


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