GOLDEN, CO – Josh Pierantoni went to the Front Range No. 2 meet with one goal in mind. He came away from the event as a successful runner.
On Saturday afternoon the junior ran a school 5000 meter record time and in the process punched his ticket to the NCAA National Championships. In the second of two heats at the meet, Pierantoni ran the 26 lap race at Steinhauer Fieldhouse in 14:44.20. That time at elevation converted to 14:02.78 which earned him the automatic qualifying time.
It was the third time in his collegiate runner career the Casper, WY native ran the 5000 meter race during the indoor track season. His previous best time in the race was 14:46.41 which was done at a sea level setting last season in Grand Rapids, MI.
The event featured numerous automatic qualifiers as three Colorado School of Mines runners also ran the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 14:03.43.
The NCAA Championships are slated for March 11-13 at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, AL.
