Kirami Yego threatens UA 5,000m record in Boston

BOSTON – Racing in the first seeded section of the 5,000m on Saturday evening at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University, Kirami Yego registered a time of 13 minutes, 24.36 seconds, the second fastest time ever by a Razorback, as he missed the Arkansas school record by 0.04 of a second.

Ben Shearer, racing in a separate section of the 5,000m, moved to No. 5 on the UA all-time list with a 13:36.86 effort.

In a very fast section, in which winner Graham Blanks of Harvard shattered the collegiate record with a 13:03.78 performance, Yego placed 12th with his career best effort, which bettered his previous best of 13:38.45 set while previously competing for South Alabama.

Patrick Kiprop, the UA school record holder with a 13:24.32 from the 2023 season, placed 18th in the first seeded section with a 13:46.46.

Coming into the meet the indoor collegiate record of 13:08.28 was set in 2012 by Arizona’s Lawi Lalang while the outdoor collegiate record of 13:06.32 set by Abdihamid Nur of Northern Arizona in 2022 was also bettered.

Finishing behind Blanks, the recent NCAA cross country champion, in 13:06.42 was Stanford’s Ky Robinson along with Sam Atkin of Puma in 13:06.66, North Carolina’s Parker Wolfe with a 13:13.61, and New Mexico’s Habtom Samuel in 13:14.85.

Shearer contested the third section of the seeded 5,000m and placed ninth with his 13:36.86, which moves him to No. 5 on the UA all-time indoor list. Shearer’s previous best at the distance was 14:07.30 from an outdoor 5,000m.

The fifth section of the 5,000m produced a pair of career best time for Razorbacks Lexington Hilton and Reuben Reina. Hilton finished sixth in 13:54.58, which bettered his previous PR of 14:17.69. Reina placed 10th in 13:57.61, which improved upon his best of 14:24.82 from an outdoor 5k. Myles Richter was 20th in 14:32.36.

Arkansas alum Austen Dalquist finished sixth in the fourth section of the 5,000m as he set a career best of 13:54.18 to better his previous best of 14:16:02 from 2019. Current Razorbacks also contesting that section included Jacob McLeod (13:59.80) and Elias Schreml (14:09.70), who placed 11th and 15th, respectively.

Earlier races had Jack Williams running 14:37.28 in his debut in the event to place 13th in the first section of the unseeded 5,000m. Tommy Romanow, competing in the 3,000m, improved his career best to 8:12.63 for 13th in his section. Romanow had a previous best of 8:15.03.

Arkansas All-Time Top 10 | 5,000m (Current Razorbacks in bold)