Addison Knoblauch talks after winning the Girls 5K Championship at NBNO with a 16:42.90.
Addison Knoblauch would highlight the opening day of New Balance Outdoor Nationals (NBNO) where she would run a 16:42.90 to win the championship race. She would position herself up front early as she would run outside the top 3 after the first kilometer. She would come through that first kilometer with a fast split of 3:14 (16:10 5K pace) and be just a second off Maddie Gardiner who led the race early. Gardiner was this year's Nike Indoor Nationals 5K runner-up only behind Elizabeth Leachman who ran a crazy fast time in that race to set the indoor high school national record at 15:28.90 back in March.
It would be about another kilometer before Tenneesse's Abby Cheeseman would take the lead. Cheeseman has had a great season that included one of the country's fastest 3200m times as she would have a sub 10 minute performance finishing in 9:56. She worked on building her lead the next 2K as she would have a 8 second gap entering the final 800m. Despite this 40m disadvantage Knoblauch would start to make her move, running an 80 for the penultimate lap. Coming into the bell lap Addison had closed the gap to just over 5.5 seconds. At this point she likely had her sights set on the win as she gained ground quickly. It would come down to the final 100m before she would make the final pass at a pace Cheeseman could not match.
After being the only girl under 17 minutes in Indiana this past XC season Knoblauch would earn the New Balance Championship 5K title on the track. This would also act as a tremendous rebound after placing 3rd in the state finals in the 3200m two weeks ago where she did the 4x8/3200m double. Knoblauch will head to the University of Notre Dame this fall with a incoming class of stars including in state talent Nicki Southerland who recently raced to a 6th place finish at the Brooks PR Invite running a 2:06 in the 800m
You can follow along live with more NBNO coverage below as well!
New Balance Nationals Outdoors 2024 Live Updates and Results
Some other Notable Performances so far this weekend have included:
Calvin Seitz - 4:20.85 (closed in a 2:02) to win the Boys Freshman Mile at NBNO
Colton Watson - 4:34.56 for 3rd in the Middle School Boys' Mile at NBNO
Noah Bontrager - 14:55.18 for 11th in the Boys' Championship 5K at NBNO
Kenya Leitch - 5:01.81 for 2nd in the Girls' Freshman Mile at NON
Jack Hearld - 14:47.20 for 10th in the Boys' Championship 5K at NON
Warsaw Community (WR Squared) - 21:36.71 for 4th in the Girls' Championship 4xMile at NON (Joey Rastrelli splits 4:57.73 on the anchor)
Hadley Lucas - 166-10 (50.85m) for 6th in the Discus at USA U20 Outdoors (same place as NON). She would also throw for 4th place in the Shot Put with a toss of 51-6.5 (15.71m).
Luke Himes - 64-11.25 for 5th in the Shot Put at USA U20 Outdoors (same place as NON)
Martin Barco - 3:47.73 for 3rd in the 1500m at USA U20 Outdoors (same place as NON)
Tyler Tarter - 13.74 for 6th in the 110m Hurdles at the Brooks PR Invite
Nicki Southerland - 2:06.47 for 6th in the 800m at the Brooks PR Invite
Jaidyn Johnson - 10.55 for 4th in the 100m at the Brooks PR Invite
More Results are Coming in Soon!