Ethan Strand has etched his name into the NCAA record book.
The former Vestavia Hills star distant runner, now a junior at North Carolina, shattered the NCAA indoor 3,000-meter record with a speedy performance Dec. 7 in the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener.
Strand clocked 7:30.15, eclipsing the previous record by six seconds while finishing just ahead of his Tar Heels teammate Parker Wolfe (7:30.23), whose second-place finish also broke the prior record.
During the final lap of the race at the 7:02 time marker, the two Tar Heels separated from the pack and battled for the top spot in NCAA history. Strand used a last stretch move to pull ahead of Wolfe by .8 seconds. Strand ran an incredible 26.47-second closing lap.
“I knew the collegiate record was in danger, but when I looked up at the clock and saw 7:30, I was kind of in shock,” Strand said. “The World Indoor standards came out and the 3K was 7:31. I’m like, ‘That’s ridiculous. I’m not running that. I thought realistically we would run 7:34/7:35.’”
But Strand did beat that record in what was described as one of the best races for men’s collegiate track and field in recent years, as the top four finishers in the race all ran times under the previous collegiate record.
Strand’s finish is the second fastest all-time by an American, trailing only Yared Nuguse, who set the American record (7:28.23) on the same track a little less than a year ago. Strand also is currently No. 14 on the all-time world indoor 3,000-meter list.
North Carolina coach Chris Miltenberg was ecstatic about the performances of Strand and Wolfe.
“That was awesome,” Miltenberg said. “There have been a handful of times where even I’ve been really surprised. I thought they might run 7:35 or 7:34. That just shows you how powerful they are working together and pushing each other. That was really fun.
“Ethan has had a great fall, really, really great consistency.”
— Rubin E. Grant
