The indoor track season started off with a bang once again as the BU Season Opener was host to another set of blazing fast early season 5k races. Amongst several collegians who were at peak fitness off of their XC seasons, some familiar USATF-NE faces toed the line and fared very well. The women’s race kicked off first and put on quite the show. After New Balance Boston’s Keely Maguire dragged the field through 2400 meters, New Mexico redshirt Courtney Frerichs broke open a gap and cruised to a very solid 15’31 early season 5k. Not quite as fast as Sarah Disanza’s time from last year, but still very impressive. A quad of runners in NC State’s Erika Kemp, BC’s Liv Westphal and Laura Hottenrott, and Provience’s Sarah Collins would also finish under 16 minutes. On a side note, Frerichs placed 4th overall at NCAA Division 1 Cross Country nationals, leading her Lobos team to the most dominant team victory in NCAA history; five ladies in the top 24. That New Mexico fifth finisher from nationals happened to be Molly Renfer, who raced herself to a 16’02 at this BU 5k. It’s going to be a hell of a year for these ladies!

For the men, we got to see NE Distance athletes Henry Sterling and Steve Mangan along with the BAA’s Julian Saad toe the line in a sub-14 5k attempt for some of Iona’s top runners. And they competed very well indeed. With two rabbits in the race, the field was able to roll the sub-4’30 mile pace needed to break the 14 minute barrier the whole way and eventually squeeze Iona’s Gilbert Kirui, Providence’s Jordan Mann, and fellow Iona Gael Kieran Clements under the barrier. Though barely missing the sub 14 with a 14’01, Henry Sterling made quite the effort to grab a 16 second PR early in the season. We can only imagine what he will throw down when the big meets like BU Terrier and the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix come around! Saad would run a pretty solid time himself, crossing the line 5th in 14’13. Mangan unfortunately had to drop somewhere around 3200 meters in, but there’s faster races awaiting him.

Though the 5k was the meet showcase, we saw some other very solid local results:

• Chris Kibler (GBTC) wins the 800m in 1’54.40.
• Jess Teal, also from GBTC, runs a solid 2’56 1000m
• Master’s stud Chris Blondin crushes an 18 second PR in the 3k via 8’56.
• Northeastern’s Brooke Wojeski wins the women’s 3000m in 9’53.

Meet results courtesy of LancerTiming: Women Men