COLLEGE STATION, Texas — History was made on Thursday evening in College Station, as Rayna Stanziano became the first female Gael to compete at the NCAA West Prelims. After qualifying for the 1500m the last time she ran it, Stanziano headed to Texas A&M for the West Prelim, where she would go up against the top runners in the country. With the field split up into four heats, Stanziano ran in the third grouping, but was not fast enough to advance to the second round on Saturday, thus ending her season.
The third heat had some of the fastest times in the country on the entry list, including Krissy Gear of Arkansas, who had the second-fastest 1500m time of the year at 4:09.