Rebekah Noble diversified Saturday, which led to a personal best in the 1,500 meters at Stanford University’s Cobb Track and Angell Field.
Noble, the sophomore normally known for her performances in the 800, sat near the back of the pack for the first three laps before speeding ahead with a 62-second final quarter and sped past the competition in the final 200 meters for a time of 4:17.49 and first in her heat. Overall, she finished fifth in the two sections.
Noble’s time marked a seven-second improvement over her previous personal high of 4:24.43 set in the same meet last year. It put Noble in sixth all-time in Oregon history, ahead of Penny Graves in seventh and Cheri Williams in eighth.
Freshman Nicole Blood ran the same event and surpassed the regional standard of 4:27.80 in her collegiate outdoor event debut. She ran 22nd in a time of 4:25.44.
On Friday, freshman Keara Sammons made the NCAA provisional standard 35:00.00 in a second place finish of 33:54.55. Her time moved her into sixth all-time at Oregon and past Liz Wilson in seventh and Niamh Zwagerman in eighth.
Freshman Zoe Buckman ran 11th in her section of the 800 in 2:08.40. Sophomore Zoe Nelson made her outdoor debut in the 5,000 with a 22nd place finish in 17:24.23.
On the men’s side, sophomore Chris Winter ran 25th in his heat of the 5,000 in 14:36.46.
On Saturday, junior Galen Rupp placed 12th overall and seventh in collegians in 28:35.04 in the 10,000. His time met the NCAA automatic standard of 28:45.00. It was his fastest time since his runner-up NCAA finish of 28:23.75 in Sacramento in June 2005. Sophomore Shadrack Kiptoo-Biwott earned his NCAA provisional time with a finish of 22nd in 29:00.52.
Freshman Andrew Wheating cut five seconds off his personal best 1,500 time and finished 15th in 3:48.14. He barely missed the regional standard of 3:47.80.
Also in that event, sophomore James Withers had a personal best time of 3:51.07 in finishing 10th. Junior A.J. Casteel finished 19th in 3:52.31. Sophomore Duke Wasteney was 24th in 3:52.84.
Sophomore Scott Wall had a personal best of 14:08.19 in the 5,000. Freshman A.J. Acosta ran 28th in 14:10.47 as both met the regional standard of 14:12.00.
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