Over the course of the three-day championship meet, the Cyclones had 21 athletes earn All-Big 12 honors, for finishing in the top eight of their respective events. |NORMAN, Okla. ñ Iowa State senior Hillary Bor defended his Big 12 Conference title in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Betsy Saina and Dani Stack took first and second, respectively, in the women’s 5,000-meter run on the final day of the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships inside the John Jacobs Track Complex.
The Iowa State women’s team finished sixth with 60 team points. Texas A&M won the women’s team competition with 146 points. The Cyclone men concluded the conference championship meet in 10th-place with 34 points. Texas A&M won the men’s team race with 175 points.
“The women’s team did well,” Iowa State head coach Corey Ihmels said. “Any time you finish in the top half of this conference, it is a good effort. We left some points in Ames by redshirting (throwers) Danielle Frere and Laishema Hampton. The team is getting better and better. The men are a work in progress and actually are not that far from getting into the top half of the league.”
Much like the 10,000-meter run Friday night, Saina and Stack led the field for the majority of the 5,000 meters, but this time bided their time before taking a commanding lead with 2,000 meters to go. After finishing fourth in the 10,000-meter run Friday night, Saina took the 5,000-meter title in a personal best, 16:06.05. Stack followed close behind, clocking a 16:06.05.
“Betsy and Dani did it right tonight,” Ihmels said. “We decided not to rush into the lead like we did in the 10,000-meter run. When it was time to go, they both moved out and ran a good race.”
The 1-2 finish by Saina and Stack marks the third straight year that Iowa State has swept the top two spots in the Big 12 outdoor women’s 5K. Saina was also the Big 12 5,000-meter champion at the 2011 indoor conference championships.
“We planned not to move out too fast, which I did in the 10,000-meter run,” Saina said. “After seven or eight laps, it was time to push. I really needed to pace the race if I was going to win.”
Saina and Stack ran as a team throughout the race.
“We planned to work together and that’s what we did,” Stack said. “We pushed the pace and made everybody work.”
Stack, who was second in Friday’s 10,000 meters, continues to impress her teammates. Her best finishes in high school were fourth-place efforts in the 1600- and 3200-meter runs.
Bor led almost the entire race on his way to repeating as the Big 12 steeplechase champion. The three-time steeplechase All-American posted a season-best time, 8:52.11, earning 10 team points for the Cyclone men.
“I knew that this year’s field was more competitive than last year’s,” Bor said. “I knew Nebraska had David Adams, who had also run 8:40 this season. I had to separate myself a little bit from the rest of the field, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to slow down at all.”
After earning the last qualifying spot in the 1,500-meter preliminaries on Saturday, Lucy Kennedy led the field of the 1,500-meter final through the last 150 meters. Kennedy earned eight team points for the Cyclone women after posting a personal best time (4:20.98), good enough for second place.
“Yesterday I was just trying to make the final and I almost cut it too fine,” Kennedy said. “Today, I wanted to go at a faster pace, so I did it myself.”
The Iowa State women earned six team points from Kianna Elahi’s third-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. After automatically qualifying for the event final Saturday afternoon, Elahi ran 57.44 behind Kansas State’s Ryann Krais (56.06) and Texas A&M’s Andrea Sutherland (56.53). The Cyclone women also earned a point from the 4×400-meter relay team comprised of Dana Christensen, Donnise Powell, Callan Jacobson and Elahi. The quartet posted an eighth-place finish (3:41.39), improving upon their season-best time by over four seconds.
After posting a personal best time in Satuday’s 800-meter preliminaries, Iowa State freshman Edward Kemboi ran yet another personal best time in the 800-meter final (1:47.90) to take second place, adding eight points to the men’s team score.
“Coach told me to stay relaxed,” Kemboi said. “I made a move at 300 meters and I felt really good through 700 meters. Then I was trying to hold on.”
Ihmels said Kemboi is just scratching the surface of his talent.
“He’s getting better and better and he’s not really completely fit,” Ihmels said. “He came to us at the start of the (spring) semester and to make a great effort in the 800-meters and come back and run 46.40 as part of the 4×400-meter relay team is just a great performance. What is really impressive is that Edward is still just 17.”
The Iowa State men also earned team points from the seventh-place finishing 4×100-meter relay team. The All-Big 12 unit was comprised of Amara Sama, Ian Warner, Bryce Colston and Clint Martin. Later in the day, Warner went on to earn four additional points after finishing fifth in the 100-meter dash final. In the last event of the day, the 4×400-meter relay team of Brian Sandvig, Jamal Currica, Kemboi and Alvin Garnett took eighth-place, earning the one team point to push the men into tenth place. The foursome clocked a season-best time of 3:11.16.
Over the course of the three-day championship meet, the Cyclones had 21 athletes earn All-Big 12 honors, for finishing in the top eight of their respective events.
Iowa State ResultsóBig 12 Championships
Men:
100-meter dash: 1) Mookie Salaam, Oklahoma, 10.23; 5) Ian Warner, 10.50
800-meter run: 1) Michael Preble, Texas A&M, 1:47.71; 2) Edward Kemboi, IOWA STATE, 1:47.90
3,000-meter steeplechase: 1) Hillary Bor, IOWA STATE, 8:52.11; 12) Isaac Chelimo, IOWA STATE, 9:38.20
5,000-meter run: 1) Joe Bosshard, Colorado, 13:50.62; 12) Martin Coolidge, IOWA STATE, 14:28.72; 20) Clayton Carper, IOWA STATE, 14:56.13; 23) Charlie Paul, IOWA STATE, 15:07.17; 27) Dan Murray, IOWA STATE, 15:28.99
4×100-meter relay: 1) Texas A&M, 39.04; 7) IOWA STATE, 40.39
4×400-meter relay: 1) Texas A&M, 3:02.38; 8) IOWA STATE, 3:11.16
Discus: 1) Julian Wruck, Texas Tech, 208-01; 14) Robert Utterback, IOWA TATE, 166-02
Triple Jump: 1) Tyron Stewart, Texas A&M, 54-01.25; 11) Akeem Holmes, IOWA STATE, 49-01.50
Women:
400-meter hurdles: 1) Ryann Krais, Kansas State, 56.06; 3) Kianna Elahi, IOWA STATE, 57.44; 9) Donnise Powell, IOWA STATE, 1:00.06
1,500-meter run: 1) Ashley Miller, Nebraska, 4:18.70; 2) Lucy Kennedy, IOWA STATE, 4:20.98
5,000-meter run: 1) Betsy Saina, IOWA STATE, 16:06.05; 2) Dani Stack, IOWA STATE, 16:08.23; 13) Lucy Kennedy, IOWA STATE, 16:49.97; 14) Semehar Tesfaye, IOWA STATE, 16:51.06; 21) Taylor Petersen, IOWA STATE, 17:25.10; 27) Beth Olson, IOWA STATE, 18:02.72
4×100-meter relay: 1) Texas A&M, 42.90; 10) IOWA STATE, 48.17
4×400-meter relay: 1) Texas A&M, 3:31.28; 8) IOWA STATE, 3:41.39
Final Team Results:
Men: 1) Texas A&M, 175; 2) Texas, 103.50; 3) Oklahoma, 90; 4) Nebraska, 84.50; 5) Texas Tech, 74; 6) Kansas, 64; 7) Baylor, 57.50; 8) Colorado, 52; 9) Missouri, 35; 10) IOWA STATE, 34; 11) Kansas State, 33; 12) Oklahoma State, 15.50
Women: 1) Texas A&M, 146; 2) Nebraska, 119; 3) Oklahoma, 117; 4) Texas, 90.50; 5) Baylor 77; 6) IOWA STATE, 60; 7) Kansas, 51.50; T8) Kansas State, 48; T8) Texas Tech, 48; 10) Colorado, 38; T11) Oklahoma State, 12; T11) Missouri, 12
