Allie Ostrander. Photo by Kevin Morris
Alaska’s Allie Ostrander on Friday checked a critical box in her return to the steeplechase.
The 27-year-old former Kenai Central athlete and three-time NCAA steeplechase champion ran her signature track event for the first time in nearly three years and pocketed her Olympic Trials qualifying standard in the 3,000-meter event over barriers and a water jump.
Ostander finished fourth at Stanford’s Payton Jordan Invitational in California, clocking 9 minutes, 37.65 seconds to finish comfortably below the Trials qualifying standard of 9:41. That mark gained Ostrander a spot in the Trials, June 21-30, in Eugene, Oregon.
Friday’s steeple was Ostrander’s first since finishing eighth in the 2021 Olympic Trails in a personal-best 9:26.96. Ostrander accomplished that while undergoing treatment, a partial hospitalization, for an eating disorder.
While known more for her strength than pure speed, Ostrander delivered an encouraging sign Friday by closing the last lap in the second-fastest time in the field (1:13), only fractionally slower than third-place finisher Marisa Howard. Lexy Halladay won the race in 9:27.72, with runner-up Courtney Wayment clocking 9:30.57.
Ostrander in the last couple years has developed into a multi-discipline runner, returning to mountain and trail running, as well as cross country.
She finished fourth at the U.S. cross country championships in January and parlayed that into a 30th-place finish at the World Championships in Serbia, where she was the second-fastest American and helped her team to a fourth-place finish.
Ostrander is a former world mountain running junior champion. She competed in the steeplechase at the 2019 track and field World Championships. She was a six-time Mount Marathon junior champion – she still owns the course record – and one-time senior women’s champion in the iconic race up and down the 3,022-peak overlooking Seward and Resurrection Bay.
Ostrander, who is based in Seattle, is sponsored by NNormal, a relatively new company that manufactures shoes and outdoor gear. The company was co-founded by Kilian Jornet, a former Mount Marathon champion generally considered the greatest men’s mountain and trail runner in history.
Ostrander on Tuesday night will be inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.