CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia – While it was a quiet Friday night in terms of quantity for the No. 9 men’s track and field team at the Virginia Challenge, it was night of quality as all three Cyclones in action recorded personal bests on their runs at Lannigan Track.
The performance of the night belonged to redshirt freshman Gable Sieperda, who was making his debut in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Sieperda took his time getting used to the conditions, but not a lot of time. Starting with five laps to go, the Central Lyon-George Little Rock product took over, with his fourth lap moving him up from eighth to fourth. From there he continued to put up fast laps and took the lead for good in the final 1,000 meters. He closed out his race with the fastest lap of the heat by any competitor (66.22) to bring home the victory in 8:51.41.
Sieperda’s run sees him ranked 13th in NCAA Division I this season (his Cyclone teammate David Too is one of the 12 ahead of him in the rankings), while his mark ranks No. 9 in Iowa State history for the event.
Iowa State has already shown enormous strength at 10K this season, boasting the top-two nationally and the only sub-28 times in Wesley Kiptoo and Edwin Kurgat. Tonight it was Thomas Pollard’s chance to shine as he became the fourth Cyclone this season to go sub-29 in the 10,000-meter run. After clocking a consistent set of 70-second laps in the first half of the race, Pollard was able to raise his game in the second half and bring home a strong fourth place finish in 28:59.91.
Pollard’s mark was an over 30-second PR, his previous best of 29:30.77 coming all the way back at the 2017 Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Jeffery Pedersen got the evening started for Iowa State with a big performance in the 5,000-meter run. Pedersen kept to his own tempo near the back of the pack the first 2,000 meters before beginning to work his way up the field, getting as high as eighth during the race. Though he would finish 10th, it was a huge day for the sophomore, as he clocked a personal best 14:39.00, smashing his previous best by over 20 seconds in the process.
