Bates Earns All-American Honors
DES MOINES, Iowa – Boise State freshman Emma Bates earned All-American Second Team honors Saturday afternoon with a 12th-place finish in the 5,000-meter at the 2012 NCAA National Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to being the first Bronco woman to receive All-American honors in the 5,000-meter, Bates recorded the top result for a freshmen in the event with a time of 16:43:84.
The Elk River, Minn., native joins a select group of Broncos Saturday becoming the 14th member of the Boise State women’s track and field program to earn All-American honors all-time and the 11th to do it at the outdoor track and field championships, the first since 2004.
It was a solid finish for Bates who rallied from 17th-place with one lap to go to improve five positions finishing 12th overall out of 24 participants. Not a bad result for the young Bronco who was competing in only the third 5,000-meter race in her collegiate career. Bates also had the best performance of four freshmen in the event as her late kick pushed her past University of Oregon freshman Allison Woodward (16:43.92 ) who placed 13th.
Bates qualified for the national championship with a career-best time of 16:16.74 at the NCAA Track and Field Preliminary Round (May 26), the 16th-best overall time entering the national final Saturday.
The winner of this year’s 5,000-meter was Dartmouth College sophomore Abbey D’Agostino turning in a time of 16:11:34. D’Agostino held off University of Washington sophomore Megan Goethals (16:11.37) at the finish line to claim the title.
