Distance runners Juli Accurso, Emily Pifer and Melissa Thompson will represent the Bobcats and compete at the Alex Wilson Invitational on Friday night in Notre Dame, Ind.
This weekend is the last chance for runners throughout the country to qualify for next week’s NCAA Championships in Nampa, Idaho. The Ohio trio will run the 5,000-meter race, in which Accurso is looking to guarantee a spot at NCAAs, and Pifer and Thompson are looking for personal-record finishes.
Accurso has a better shot in racing the 5,000-meter than the 3,000-meter race at the NCAA Championships — she is sitting at 17th in the nation for the 5,000 and 45th in the nation for the 3,000.
Distance coach Mitch Bentley said the fourth-best runner in the nation for the 5,000-meter race, Jordan Hasay of Oregon, is planning to scratch because she is already qualified in other events. Accurso would then be ranked 16th. Last year, the NCAA allowed 16 runners to compete in the 5,000 at the championships.
Bentley said there are at least a handful of legitimate runners who have the chance to take one of those top-16 spots away from Accurso.
“Rice University is flying up some of their best runners who finished (first) and (third) at the Meyo Invite,” Bentley said. “They are also bringing a pacer with them, someone that will take the lead for the first two miles and keep the pace rolling along.”
The Alex Wilson Invitational is on the same 300-meter track as the Meyo Invitational. The Meyo Invitational was the fourth meet this indoor track season, and Accurso only ran the 3,000-meter last time. She set a Mid-American Conference and school record at that meet.
“I think that Juli has a very realistic shot to go under 16 minutes, which would be a really awesome achievement for any American female distance runner,” Bentley said. “To go under 16 is a special thing — you’re putting yourself into an elite group.”
Accurso’s 5,000-meter time is 16 minute, 5.59 seconds. Head coach Clay Calkins agrees with Bentley, and said Accurso has a good shot to break the school’s 5,000-meter record as well as her own. Annie Beecham, a 2011 Ohio graduate, broke the 5,000-meter record at the same invitational last year before Accurso beat her time this year.
It is one of the largest tracks in the national, which Bentley said makes it a go-to destination for distance runners, and Calkins reiterated saying the invitational is attractive to distance runners across the nation.
nb155607@ohiou.edu
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Alex Wilson Invitational
Friday and Saturday
Accurso, Pifer and Thompson will run in the 5k Friday night
