Colorado University Athletics
Gorton Wins NCAA 5k Title
March 14, 2003 | Track and Field
Fayetteville, Ark. - Colorado junior Sara Gorton won her first NCAA crown when she took the NCAA Division I Indoor Women's 5,000-m title in a meet, track, Big 12 and Colorado school record 15 minutes 39.25 seconds at the Randal Tyson Track Center on the University of Arkansas campus here Friday.
"I knew that I had the race with a lap to go. I was confident and feeling really good. I knew If I wanted to win I had to race smart," said Gorton.
"Sara had a race plan that she executed impeccably, and that was very important," said head coach Mark Wetmore. "She and I spoke before the race and I said to her, 'tell me your plan, because my goal is for you to follow it.' She let others lead for a little while, then she took the lead. When others got impatient and took it back, she let them then out-kicked the field, something she's been working on, with 200-m to go. It was a very, very exciting race."
Gorton entered the championships with the fastest, and nation's only sub-16 minute time, of 15:58.86 and with 19 seconds shaved off her pr, bettered her own Big 12 and CU school record and became CU's first national champion on the track since Jodie Hughes in the same event in 2001. By holding off Yale's Kate O'Neill (15:40.88), Gorton's time also betters the meet (15:39.75 set by Amy Skieresz of Arizona in 1997) and track (15:46.89 by Skieresz in 2000) records.
"The O'Neil sisters took went out hard and kept a real consistant pace and I sat behind them and was probably fifth or sixth at the 3k mark. But then I kept getting jostled and kicked around so I made a move and took the lead just after 3k so that I could sit on the rail. I stayed there for a couple of laps before Alicia Craig took the lead," explained Gorton on the development of the win. "A couple of people, and the pace, dropped off and Alicia made a surge and I stuck with her then (finally) outkicked her."
Classmate Natalie Florence, competing in her first NCAA Championship on the track, entered this race with the last of the 16 qualifying times, but improved seven places to finish ninth in a pr 16:10.99, the third fastest time in the event in the program's history.
"She ran a very good race," complimented Wetmore.
In the men's 5k, CU senior Ed Torres entered the race with the slowest sub-14 minute mark (13:51.91) and like Florence, used the last seed and motivation to his advantage to finish 10th in the race in 14:01.05, the second fastest time at the indoor distance of his career. Fueled by the home crowd, Arkansas' Alistair Cragg, who was the NCAA Cross Country national runner-up, won the men's 5k in a new meet and track record 13:28.93, edging Eastern Michigan's Boaz Cheboiywo (13:29.26).
"The race took off at an incredibly fast pace... the fastest ever in this meet," explained Wetmore. "Then the race broke into two packs and Ed was smart not to go for the lead pack because it was too fast for him. Unfortunately, he ended up leading the second pack the whole way, and he caught a few guys that fell off the lead pack. He's a little disappointed, but I think it was a good race for him."
Gorton will run the Buffs' last race of these championships, as she will toe the line in the women's 3,000-m run at 6:25 MST Saturday night. She enters the race with the nations fourth fastest time in the event, 9:12.19.
"I don't feel too bad," said Gorton about doubling up. "I think it will be another fast race. I'm just going to have to hang in there."
NCAA INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS (Fayetteville, Ark.) COLORADO ATHLETES ONLY Women's 5,000-m Run 1. Sara Gorton 15:39.25 (NCAA Meet, Stadium, Big 12, CU School Record) 9. Natalie Florence 16:10.99 Men's 5,000-m Run 10. Ed Torres 14:01.05
