Eric Avila qualified for the NAIA Championships with three other Raiders on Friday.
STANFORD, Calif. – On a day when two other Raiders posted the NAIA's top times of the season, Eric Avila managed to stand out by crushing his own Southern Oregon University record and topping every other collegiate 5000-meter runner in the nation.
Avila won the 5K race Friday night at the Stanford Invitational among a crowd of NCAA Division I athletes with a time of 13:43.05 – 20 seconds faster than his previous best and nearly six seconds faster than the next-best time at any level this season.
He became an automatic qualifier for the NAIA Outdoor Championships along with Zach-Boyd Helm, Eric Ghelfi and Rebecca Lupescu, who all competed at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday. Jonz Olander, the only other Raider at Stanford, reached an NAIA 'B' qualifying standard.
Along with being a cross country and distance medley relay champion, Avila now owns the NAIA's top recorded times in the 800 by 2.3 seconds and the 5K by 34 seconds. In the 22-person section, he edged out second-place Nick Happe of Notre Dame, who came in a half second behind. The time would have made Avila fifth at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Boyd-Helm finished fourth of 86 in the 1500-meter run with the NAIA's best mark this season, 3:49.33. Ghelfi did the same in the 10K with a time of 30:51.62 that was also the third-best in school history and 86 seconds better than his personal best last season. He placed 17th of 80 runners and has now qualified to run in two events at the NAIA Championships – this and the marathon, which he got into with his half-marathon time on March 1 at the Bidwell Classic along with Greg Garcia.
Lupescu ran the 10K and clocked 37:19.17, good for an NAIA 'A' mark and the ninth-best time in the NAIA. She was 11th of 32.
Olander's 400-meter showing of 48.29 was the sixth-best in the NAIA but missed the 'A' standard cutoff, which is a flat 48.
Four Raiders besides Ghelfi qualified for the Cascade Conference Championships in the 10K: Dylan Paulk, Cody Carter, Greg Garcia and Will Parke-Hoffman. Kevin Jorgensen qualified in the 1500m.
On Saturday a larger group of Raiders will be at Linfield's Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational.
STANFORD INVITATIONAL
MEN
400m (37 entrants)
14. Jonz Olander, 48.29#
5000m (22)
1. Eric Avila, 13:43.05^
S.F. STATE DISTANCE CARNIVAL
MEN
1500m (86)
4. Zach Boyd-Helm, 3:49.33^
43. Kevin Jorgensen, 4:01.35*
10000m (80)
17. Eric Ghelfi, 30:51.62^
42. Dylan Paulk, 32:13.46*
46. Cody Carter, 32:18.16*
56. Greg Garcia, 32:39.56*
61. Will Parke-Hoffman, 32:49.33*
WOMEN
10000m (32)
11. Rebecca Lupescu, 37:19.17^
^ NAIA 'A' qualifying mark
# NAIA 'B' qualifying mark
* Cascade Conference Championships qualifying mark