Runners await word after Last Chance NCAA Qualifier

Stephen Koenigsfeld

With only a couple members from each of the teams at the Last Chance NCAA Qualifier meet competing Saturday, the track was fairly quiet for most of the day.

Schools from around the country sent their “bubble athletes” to Lied Recreation Athletic Center for a chance to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships this coming weekend.

As of Saturday, distance runners Betsy Saina, Meaghan Nelson and Dani Stack have all automatically qualified for the women’s 3,000-meter run. Saina and Nelson have automatically qualified in the 5,000-meter run as well.

Stack is near the top of the list to still make it to nationals with a time that is only a half of a second off the automatic qualifying time for the 5k.

Ejiro Okoro competed Saturday at the Last Chance qualifier in hopes of sealing a spot as an automatic qualifier. Like Stack, Okoro will wait until later this week to see if she is close enough to the qualifying time to travel to the indoor nationals.

The qualifying athletes will compete in Boise, Idaho, this weekend in their qualified events against runners from all over the country.