Anali Cisneros Wins Third Race-Walk National Championship
Anali Cisneros (SO/Elgin, IL) followed through on high expectations on Friday as she won her second-consecutive NAIA Outdoor 5,000-Meter Race-Walk at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
She was seeded first in the country entering Friday's final and did not disappoint. Brenda McCollum of Friends University jumped out to an early lead in the race with Cisneros and Northwest University's Amberly Melendez trailing by as much as twenty meters in the early going. 900 meters into the race the pace lagged, and Cisneros took advantage as she gained the lead only to see Melendez surge to the front at the 1,100-meter mark.
Cisneros hung on her shoulder until 1,700 meters to go when she surged past Melendez. This opened a huge gap and she never looked back, winning her title in 24:26.79. All-American Nayeli Cisneros (FR/Elgin, IL) entered Saturday's final seeded fifth. She held fourth for much of the race but dropped back and finished sixth crossing the finish line in 27:02.02.
"We are very proud of Anali and Nayeli. They work extremely hard, are great teammates and earn everything they accomplish. Anali is a great champion and Nayeli has battled injury and training interruptions all year long to earn two All-American awards as a Freshman, which says a lot about her character," said Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Joel Popenfoose. "[Graduate Assistant] D.J. Wolfram has done a great job coaching them this year. We'll see where our 13 points places us in the final standings [this weekend]."
Anali Cisneros' title is her third Race-Walk Title in the past year, as she also won the 3,000-meter NAIA Indoor Race-Walk in early March.
