Hurta Set For NCAA Mile

BOULDER – Colorado track and field senior Sage Hurta will be the lone representative at the 2021 NCAA Indoor National Championships and will compete in the mile this Friday and Saturday.

Hurta enters the final meet of the indoor season with the best time in the nation at 4:31.80. She will compete in prelims Friday at 6 p.m. MT with her eyes on earning an automatic qualifying spot, then look to add her list to the NCAA Champions Saturday at 5 p.m. Hurta's goal on Friday is top-four in her heat or to have one of the next two best times to be one of the 10 that advance to finals.

She was not originally the top-ranked miler, but the two BYU athletes and the Washington individual that had times faster than Hurta all elected not to run the mile at the championships. The next closest athlete to Hurta is Krissy Gear of Arkansas who will be running on her home track and where she ran 4:31.93 earlier this season against good competition at the Tyson Invitational. Hurta ran her mile virtually uncontested, so Friday and Sunday will be the first time someone will be within a couple of seconds of her after just the first lap.

After Gear, the times drop off significantly with Lotte Black of Rhode Island at 4:35.54. Other notables include Aneta Konieczek of Oregon, a division II transfer from Western Colorado University. The only other Pac-12 athlete in the field is Katie Rainsberger of Washington, a Colorado native from Air Academy in Colorado Springs. BYU and Arkansas both have trios in the competition that could make for interesting team blocks that Hurta could have to navigate should all make it to finals.

Live results are available here and the meet will be televised on ESPN3.

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Sage Hurta