Cross Country

Freshman Kelly O’Brien dashed to a school-record 4:31.04 time in the 1,500 meters at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday in the Wildcats’ first look at the track this season.

O’Brien’s personal best performance was good enough for an eighth place finish in the 1,500. Fellow NU runners Isabel Seidel and Sara Coffey, both juniors, also ran personal bests in the race, crossing the line in 4:33.52 and 4:37.16 respectively. All three etched their names into the history books by cracking the program’s top-10 times list, with Seidel jumping to the No. 4 spot on the list and Coffey now No. 8.

“For Kelly to go out and break the school record after some adversity in the fall, followed by a tough indoor season where she was still gaining fitness, is fantastic,” head coach ‘A Havahla Haynes said in an athletic department release. “Any time we move up on the top-10 lists or establish personal bests, it’s been a good weekend.”

In the 5,000 meter race, freshman Sarah Nicholson finished in the top-25 of a 149-person event with the seventh-fastest mark in NU history, a personal-best 17:02.58. Nicholson was the fifth-fastest freshman in a field of competitors that included several Division I schools.

NU will continue its spring outdoor season at the Redbird Invitational in Normal, Illinois, on April 8.

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