“One of the main things is going out there and being patient, letting the race unfold,” Saretsky said of Korolev’s strategy. “I thought he did an excellent job of…executing the plan.”

The large lead pack remained mostly in tact until just before the 5k mark, when Kithuka picked up the pace, daring the other runners to stay with him. Only Cheserek kept up with the defending champion, which left Korolev racing with NC State’s Andrew Colley.

“I just gauged the situation, and I felt like [going with Kithuka] would have pushed me over the edge a little bit.” Korolev said. “I was happy with where I was in the top five, so I decided to be a little more conservative about it, rather than do something crazy.”

When Colley started to fall back, Korolev found himself in third place, in what he called “no man’s land.” Kithuka and Cheserek were well ahead of the senior, and a large pack had formed about 10 seconds behind him.

Though the pack made ground on him between the 8k and 9k marks, Korolev picked up the pace in the final 500 meters, hoping to keep his position as the top American runner in the race.

That’s when he saw Kithuka, who had yet to lose a race in his collegiate career, in his sights.

“I just tried to make as big of a kick as I could to keep my place,” Korolev said. “That’s probably what kept me from second [place], is that I was thinking of staying in third instead of going for second…. With 100 meters to go, I definitely felt like I was reeling [Kithuka] in, but it was just too late.”

—Staff writer Dominic A. Martinez can be reached at dominic.martinez@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @dominicmTHC.