Pollard PR Earns Him 16th at U-20 World Champs.

BYDGOSZCZ, Poland – Thomas Pollard put up a huge personal best in the men's 10,000-meter run en route to finishing 16th in the 10K at the IAAF Under-20 World Championships at Zawisza Stadium. Pollard was one of two Cyclones competing on the day, with Kelly Naumann taking 26th in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Pollard clocked in with a time of 29:53.84, dropping his personal best by over 30 seconds in the event, with his previous best being a 30:31.73 at the Drake Relays in April. The freshman, who redshirted cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field in 2015-16 at Iowa State, was representing Team USA for the second time in 2016, having also run at the Pan American Cross Country Cup in Venezuela in March.

Pollard was up against the very best of his age group, as a group of three runners, all from Africa, came in below the previous stadium record with clockings in the 27:26s. Pollard settled into the middle of the pack and ran his own race, eventually coming in 16th of the 34-man field. He was the highest ranking American and second among runners from North America.

Naumann was up against some strong competition Tuesday morning, with five competitors dipping under the 10-minute mark in prelims. The rising sophomore did her best against the strong field, but was unable to advance to the 15-woman final with her 26th place effort of 10:45.90.

It was just three months ago at the Jim Duncan Invitational that Kelly Naumann ran her first career 3,000-meter steeplechase. It took a bronze medal personal-best of 10:26.95 at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships to earn herself a trip to the NCAA West Preliminaries. However, Naumann continued to take advantage of her opportunities to gain experience, leading to last month's USATF Junior Championships, where her second place effort in the steeplechase earned her a spot on the Team USA plane to Poland.

Up Next
Iowa State incoming freshman Branna MacDougall will be representing Canada in the women's 5,000-meter run on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., 3:30 a.m. Central Time.

Iowa State Results
3,000m Steeplechase Prelims (W): 1. Tigist Getnet, Bahrain – 9:45.65; 26. Kelly Naumann, United States – 10:45.90
10,000m Run Final (M): 1. Rodgers Kwemoi, Kenya – 27:25.23; 16. Thomas Pollard, Iowa State – 29:53.84

Players Mentioned

Kelly Naumann

Thomas Pollard

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics