Sacramento Running News

On Friday at the Standford Invitational, Sac State Hornet freshman Reesey Byers, of Santa Rosa, ran his first collegiate 5000 meters, and broke a long-standing school record in the process.

In an early heat, Byers ran comfortably in the middle of the chase pack for much of the race, breaking away late to chase down the leaders and the school record.

“Reesey ran a very smart race, running with control early on, and then really being aggressive in the latter stages, which is the proper way to run high level races like Stanford Invitational,” said Hornets Coach Scott Abbott.  “What most impressed me was how he handled himself in the final 400 meters.  He made a strong move with about a mile to go to catch the leaders, and then ended up backsliding a little in the final kilometer and looked like he may have been dead in the water heading into the final lap. But, he dug deep and ran with a lot of heart over the last lap and competed very hard, and that ended up being the difference between a good race and what turned out to be a great race.”

Byers’ 14:19.o1 finish time eclipsed Noel Hitchcock’s record 14:22.90 set in 1971. Byers is the first Sacramento State runner to break 4:30 on the 5K since Darrin Slade ran a 14:28.00 in 1989.

It looks like the Hornet men are gearing up for a good track season, as sophomore Daniel Mitchell, of Carmichael, ran a 31-second personal best 14:41.79 in the same meet.

Looking to the rest of the season, Abbott adds, “We have good momentum coming off of a successful indoor track season where we won conference titles on both the men’s and women’s side, and Lea Wallace was the number one ranked half-miler in the nation at 2:03.07. Look for big things from her this spring as she looks to become Sac State’s first ever D1 national champion.”

Here is a great video of the race , courtesy of Flotrack.