EUGENE, Ore. (June 11, 2021) - Northern Arizona junior Luis Grijlava posts an Olympic standard time, places second, and earns First-Team All-American honors, after running a personal best time of 13:13.14 in the national men's 5000-meter race.
Grijalava, the Big Sky Men's Most Valuable Athlete, also broke the NAU and league record, set by NAU alum Diego Estrada in 2013 (13:15.33).
This marks Grijalva's third visit to the national outdoor meet, and only his second time competing in this event at the NCAA championships; in 2019, Grijlava competed in the men's 5000-meter run, finishing in 15th place with a time of 14:20.86.
The men's 5K was loaded with talent tonight as ten of the top-24 nationally ranked athletes competed in the event; Grijalva's previous best time of 13:29.02, set back in April, ranked 14th in the nation, while his regional meet time of 13:57.00 sat him 20th on the NCAA championship entry list.
Grijalva got out well in the first 200-meters of the race, splitting 30.91, and setting himself up for success; running a variation of laps between the times of 1:02.00 and 1:06.00 allowed Grijlava to maintain his position and prepare for the end of the race.
Similarly to the men's 10000-meter run on Wednesday, sophomore Wesley Kiptoo of Iowa State took an early lead and held on for the first half of the event, before being overtaken by Georgetown senior Robert Brandt for a few laps.
Junior Athanas Kioko of Campbell was next to take the reins, forcing Grijalva to make a tactical decision and run the fastest 3800-meter split of 1:04.03 to continue his forward momentum.
Brandt made one last leading attempt with 800-meters remaining, but was out-paced by Oregon junior Cooper Teare who maintained first position through the competition of the race, setting a meet record and the collegiate record (13:12.27).
The final two laps around the track were tricky as Grijalva navigated his best route while simultaneously increasing his speed; the last 800-meters of Grijalvas were by far his fastest, splitting 1:01.95, and then pouring it on with a split of 55.54 in the final stretch, passing Kioko, and stealing second place.
Grijalva annihilated his previous best time of 13:29.02, by nearly 16 seconds, crossing the finish line at 13:13.14.
The Lumberjacks will compete again at the U.S. Olympic Trials next week.
