By Collin Catman
On a day where a torrential rain came down sideways, thanks to gusts of wind up to 49 miles-per-hour, Vallery Korir of Washington State won the women’s 3,000 meters Saturday at the Pepsi Invitational, edging out BYU’s Ashleigh Warner by 0.46 seconds.
Up until the last two laps, Korir was last in the pack. She kept a steady pace throughout and was able to outlast the field, narrowly escaping with the win in 9 minutes, 51.38 seconds.
Korir and Warner eventually separated themselves from the rest of the pack, and Oregon’s Carmela Cardama Baez, who finished third, crossed the finish line a second after Warner.
“We just wanted to get out here and get good training in,” said Warner. “I didn’t really care about my time. I knew my time would come.”
The conditions played a significant part for not only Warner, but the rest of the field as well. Korir’s winning time also fell short of her personal best, 20.4 seconds faster at the UW vs. WSU Dual in 2017.The weather negatively impacted her time, which was 9:51.84.
“I think that time was maybe 30 seconds off my personal best, but with these conditions I can’t complain,” Warner said.
Though Warner did not win the race, she didn’t put too much stock into the time, saying that she would not compete in the 3,000 in the postseason.
“You can’t run that at regionals or nationals, so it really was just to get some more milage in and some more training in,” Warner said. “But I feel good and excited for the rest of the season.”
