Kurgat Ready for NCAA Women's 5K Final
3/9/2016 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
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Birmingham CrossPlex
Liberty sophomore Ednah Kurgat is set to make her NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships debut, Friday in Birmingham, Ala. The native of Eldoret, Kenya will race in the women's 5K final at the Birmingham CrossPlex, beginning at 9:25 p.m. Eastern.
How to Keep Up with Kurgat
Friday evening's race will be video streamed live on ESPN3, with coverage of the meet beginning at 6:25 p.m. Eastern.
Live results, including lap-by-lap splits, will be available, courtesy of Flash Results.
Two hours of taped coverage from the meet will air on ESPN2 Sunday at 7 p.m. The same program may also be seen on ESPNU several times during the next few weeks, including March 20 at 5:30 p.m., March 23 at 1 and 10 p.m., March 24 at 6 a.m. and March 27 at 3 p.m.
Finding Out About the Facility
The Birmingham CrossPlex will host the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships for the first time, after serving as the venue for the 2013 and 2015 NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships.
The 750,000-square foot facility features a six-lane hydraulically banked 200-meter track, like the new indoor track which is currently being constructed on Liberty's campus.
Kurgat has run one race at the Birmingham CrossPlex during her career, finishing second in the women's mile in 4:54.14 at the Samford Invitational on Feb. 13, 2015.
How She Got Here
Kurgat has only run one 5K race this season, but it was a memorable performance. She placed fourth in the Husky Classic women's 5K, Feb. 12 at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle, Wash. Kurgat's time of 15:47.89 sliced 40 seconds off of her own Liberty and Big South Conference records for the event and ranks 11th among the 16 women who will contest the event in Birmingham.
Kurgat's other two races this year both came at the Big South Indoor Track & Field Championships, Feb. 26-27 in Blacksburg, Va. The sophomore won her second straight Big South women's 3K title in a school-record time of 9:32.67. The next day, Kurgat took the Big South mile title in a personal-best 4:50.82, moving up to No. 2 on Liberty's all-time list. Impressively, she won both races out of the slow section.
There's a First Time for Everything
Kurgat has already made quite a bit of history during her first 14 months at Liberty, becoming the first Lady Flames freshman to compete at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, the Lady Flames' first-ever NCAA Division I cross country All-American and the first Lady Flame to clock a sub-16:00 5K. The following are other "firsts" which Kurgat has either already achieved or has a chance to accomplish on Friday.
• Kurgat is the first Liberty athlete (male or female) to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships since Sam Chelanga ran in the men's 3K and 5K in 2011.
• Kurgat is the first Lady Flame to compete at this meet since Jaime Watson ran the women's 800 in 2010.
• Kurgat is the first Lady Flame ever to qualify for either the NCAA Division I Indoor or Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the 5K distance.
• If she finishes her race on Friday, Kurgat will become the Lady Flames' first indoor All-American since 2002, when Heather Sagan won the mile and Andrea Wildrick tied for fourth place in the pole vault.
• If she places inside the top eight, Kurgat will become a first team All-American and score the Lady Flames' first team points at an NCAA Division I Indoor or Outdoor Track & Field Championship event since the 2002 outdoor meet.
Breaking Down the Field
Most experts expect Notre Dame junior Molly Seidel and Boise State freshman Allie Ostrander to battle for first place in Friday's women's 5K final. Seidel, the top seed at 15:19.64, captured the NCAA women's cross country individual title in November, while No. 2 seed Ostrander (15:21.85) placed second to Seidel in that race.
Other possible contenders include Notre Dame freshman Anna Rohrer (15:32.03 season best, sixth place at NCAA cross country), Michigan sophomore Erin Finn (15:37.31 season best, Big Ten 3K & 5K champion) and Tennessee senior Chelsea Blaase (15:43.81 season best, SEC 3K & 5K champion, placed fourth in the 2015 NCAA indoor 5K final).
Kurgat has gone head-to-head with most of Friday's entrants at either the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships or the Husky Classic. Nine of the top 22 women's finishers at the 2015 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will toe the 5K starting line in Birmingham, including Seidel (first place), Ostrander (second), Rohrer (sixth), Kansas' Sharon Lokedi (10th), Kurgat (12th), Blaase (14th), Finn (19th), Providence's Sarah Collins (20th) and Air Force's Hannah Everson (22nd).
Six of the top eight runners from the Husky Classic 5K will race on Friday, including Blaase (first place), Penn State's Tessa Barrett (second), Harvard's Courtney Smith (third), Kurgat (fourth), Oregon's Molly Grabill (seventh) and Everson (eighth).
Half of the 16-member field consists of freshmen (Ostrander, Rohrer and Barrett) and sophomores (Kurgat, Finn, Lokedi, Smith and NC State's Erika Kemp).
