Junior Claire Richardson, Harvard's only representative at the NCAA national championships, placed 19th in the 5,000-meter race, notching a new personal best in 16:25.80.

It’s not everyday that an athlete gets the chance to compete for a national title. Junior distance runner Claire Richardson took advantage of one such rare opportunity on Friday night, capping off a stellar season on the track with a 19th-place finish and personal record in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA national championships in Eugene, Ore.

“It was really exciting to be at Hayward Field, ‘Track Town USA’ as they call it,” Richardson said. “All of the athletes were really excited about competing, and all of the fans were excited about watching. It was cool to see some of the top athletes in the country compete and be among them.”

The 5k was the last event on day three of the four-day national championship meet, so it wasn’t until just before seven that Richardson stepped up to the starting line for the last race of her junior year.

“It was just a really exciting atmosphere,” Richardson said. “The race itself went fine, but it definitely was a positive experience that I will take away from the season and take with me, going into cross country and then indoor and outdoor track. “

As a result of a random draw to determine positioning, she began the race 12 runners out in the tightly packed main section of the double waterfall start. Richardson took advantage of the relatively slow initial pace to obtain positioning near the core of the main pack and ran a strong race throughout, though she lost a little ground as it drew to a close.

“My race strategy was to try to compete with everyone, to not be intimidated by the fact that it was nationals and just try to get after it,” Richardson said.

“I think I did that pretty well in the first half of the race,” she continued. “I maybe didn’t have the best positioning in the second half, but…I can learn from that about where I should be in future...There were a lot of elbows going back and forth [near the end].”

Senior Lisa Koll of Iowa State, who posted the fastest 10k time in Wednesday’s national championship race, led the group from the start, along with Illinois senior Angela Bizzarri and West Virginia junior Marie Louise Asselin.  After the first few laps, Koll and Bizzarri began to pull ahead and stretch the gap separating them from the rest of the runners. Suddenly, Bizzarri slowed her pace and stepped off the track, withdrawing from the race, as Koll went on to win the national title with a time of 15:23.80, a full 30 seconds faster than the second place runner.

After the first three finishers—Koll, Asselin, and Oregon junior Alex Kosinski— crossed the line, a blanket finish determined the next seven places in which the difference between fourth place and 10h place was just over one second. The remaining runners, including Richardson, followed closely behind.

The only Harvard competitor present at the championships, Richardson was one of two Ivy League runners in the 24-person 5k field. Her Princeton counterpart, sophomore Alex Banfich, finished the race in eighth place with a time of 16:06.79.

“Obviously, it would have been awesome to have Harvard people,” Richardson said. “I know in the future there will be more Harvard people than there have been in the past.”

“Luckily I had two of my coaches, Jason, Amy, and our trainer Gary with me, and they were ridiculously supportive,” she continued. “We bummed around Eugene for a couple of days so that was really fun. I really enjoyed spending time with them.”

Richardson’s time of 16:25.80 is the 2nd best time recorded in Harvard track and field history and is less than one second off the school record—16:25.24—held by Lois Brommer ’85-6. With this performance, Richardson improved on her then-personal-best national semifinal time, moving her up from No. 3 to No. 2 all-time in the 5,000-meter run.

A two-time Academic All-America selection and a three-season first team All-Ivy selection last year, Richardson dominated the distance events this season, starting in the fall with cross country, and continuing through winter and spring track.

The three season varsity athlete will begin her last year of running at Harvard next fall looking to “mix it up in the Ivy League” as a team on the hunt for a title and to build upon this year’s success on the track.

“Hopefully, knock on wood, I’ll make it back to nationals [next year],” Richardson said. “It was so awesome and eye-opening, being able to compete at that level, and it made me want to get back there again, compete, and really get after it again.”