Ostrander advances to Olympic qualifying final in steeplechase

EUGENE, Oregon (KTUU) - Soldotna distance runner Allie Ostrander stamped her place in the final for the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase Olympic qualifying final Monday evening.

Ostrander, a 2015 Kenai Central High School graduate and NCAA champion in the event for Boise State University, finished fifth in the second heat of the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field in Oregon, locking up her spot in the final, which is scheduled for Thursday at 6:18 p.m. Alaska time.

The top five in each heat automatically advanced into the final, as well as the next four fastest runners who didn’t finish top five.

Ostrander will need to finish in the top three in Thursday’s final to realize her Olympic dream.

Ostrander finished in a time of 9 minutes, 29.32 seconds, behind heat winner Gabbi Jennings, who won with a time of 9:23.88. The top five in Ostrander’s heat all ran faster than the winner of heat 1, Kaylee Mitchell, who ran 9:29.54.

The Kenai Peninsula product stayed with the lead group of runners, contending around third place on the outside lane for the opening laps, before falling back to sixth in the late going. She was able to pass fellow pro runner Krissy Gear for fifth place as they approached the bell lap and hung on for the automatic spot.

Earlier this month, Ostrander ran a personal best of 9:24.70 in the steeplechase at the Portland Track Festival, setting her up with high hopes for making it to the Paris Olympics later this summer.

While she has another race, her father Paul Ostrander said that he believes the hardest part of the trials are over for Allie.

“[We’re] happy that she’s through to the finals, which that was certainly one of her main goals,” Paul Ostrander said. “The preliminaries are almost always the more difficult race because there’s a lot of pressure to make the finals. Once you get to the finals, I mean, that’s really where the work is done and you just get to go out and have fun and stick your nose in it and see what happens.”

Copyright 2024 KTUU. All rights reserved.