Christian Noble followed up his 1,500-meter win with a fifth place in the 5,000. Photo by Cierra Hitner
Lee University’s Christian Noble came into Hayward Field with one goal in mind: That was to break the NCAA Division II men’s 1,500-meter collegiate record. He did just that.
Noble won the 1,500-meter invitation at the Oregon Relays with a time of 3 minutes, 36 seconds beating the previous record, set in 2018 by David Ribich of Western Oregon, by more than a second. Ribich’s record was 3:37.35.
“That’s one I’ve been kind of eyeballing for a while now. Tried a couple of weeks ago just quite missed it with the pacing,” Noble said. “But to come out here and do it in Hayward was amazing, especially with having Cole pace it; we grew up about 20 minutes from each other.”
Cole Hocker, Olympic finalist and a former Duck, returned to Hayward to pace this race before Saturday’s attempt to beat the 4xMile world-best on day two of the Oregon Relays.
Early in the race Noble was toward the front of the pack, tucked behind Hocker. By the second part of the race, the group had split into two with Noble, James West, Wisconsin freshman Adam Spencer and Oregon senior Reed Brown behind Hocker.
With about a lap and a half to go, Noble was in the lead. In the last 50 meters, Brown started a kick that seemed like it was going to catch Noble, but it wasn’t enough. Brown placed second, losing by .44 of a second.
However, the 1,500 wasn’t Noble’s only event for the day. With barely an hour rest, he doubled back in the 5,000 meters, finishing fifth.
“It’s fun to push myself, and have fun and see what the legs can do on tired legs,” said Noble.
