Madie Boreman appreciates the nostalgic feeling of old Hayward, the under-stadium amenities of new Hayward and the crowd at both. Photo by Cierra Hitner
Colorado graduate student Madie Boreman won the Pac-12 3,000-meter steeplechase title Saturday afternoon, passing Oregon’s Aneta Konieczek in the last 300 meters.
Her personal record time of 9 minutes, 42.22 seconds gave Boreman a second Pac-12 title at Hayward Field. She also won at the old Hayward Field in 2017, when she was a freshman and ran 10:06.83.
“Winning at Hayward is so special,” she said. “Being able to do it at the old one and now the new one is really cool, especially the same event.”
Boreman, who finished fourth at the Pac-12 meet in 2021, said she did not anticipate winning. “Crossing the line—I think I kind of shocked myself,” she said.
Boreman said she likes the new underneath aspects of the stadium and added that the warm-up facilities are great, while the old stadium was very nostalgic to her.
Boreman’s track and field college career has been a long and winding road. She showed promise early in her career when she was the NCAA runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in her freshman year in 2017 with a time of 9 minutes, 46.48 seconds. Most fans may know that this is the same event that former Colorado stars eventually traversed their way to the Olympics such as Jenny Simpson, Emma Coburn, and Shalaya Kipp; Boreman seemed to be on the same path of these champions.
However, Boreman’s journey became riddled with injuries and interruptions.
In a BuffZone.com article, Colorado head coach Mark Wetmore said Boreman’s running finally started to click again in the fall of ’20.
Boreman told BuffZone, “There’s a lot of things I’m doing that I didn’t think were in the cards for me anymore. I battled injuries for four years basically.”
In Saturday’s race, Boreman had originally planned to “run her own race.” She had run the 1,500-meter preliminary round the day before and “was not as fresh” as her other competitors.
“I wanted to let her (Konieczek) go, and if she needed to get some space I was going to just make sure she was within reach,” she said. It turns out, with 300 meters to go Konieczek was within Boreman’s reach so she made a move.
As a graduate student, Boreman said she was tired of school, but the Colorado team “makes it a good time for her.”
