Spearfish, SD - Abbie Fredrick will be racing the mile at the D2 NCAA Indoor National Championships. Prelims are at 2:55pm mountain time in Birmingham, AL on Friday, March 13th.
While Black Hills State University has had strong representation in the field events at the national level, Fredrick is the first female track athlete to qualify for the National Championship. She did so by running 5:00.22 alone on her home track to win the Stinger Open, that time converted to 14th in the nation. After declarations, Fredrick enters the championship ranked 12th.
Nationals wasn't the original goal for Fredrick.
"I came into the season with one goal: to break the five minute barrier in the mile," said Fredrick. "It's been a goal of mine my entire career. It hasn't happened yet, but I have one more shot. Now that I'm here I want to just race well knowing that I have one more crack at that sub five mile. Hopefully that will be enough to get me to finals."
It was chasing that sub five mile that gave Fredrick her bid at the national meet. While competing at the SDSU Indoor Classic, she ran 5:00.02, just shy of her goal. That time is the second fastest mile run in school history and it gave her the confidence to run that time at home, where she would receive an altitude and track size conversion.
"I haven't thought much about the Championship to be honest," said Fredrick. "Reflecting on how I got here… it was a lot of hard work, time, and dedication."
Fredrick is no stranger to national level racing. She was a member of the 2018 cross country team that qualified for nationals. A first for the women's squad.
"I think indoor track will be a different beast than cross country. It's a different style of racing, and I won't have my whole team with me. But the experience of having compete in that atmosphere is invaluable heading into this weekend."
"Overall, I am excited for the opportunity, we don't often compete at big events and I am ready for the different style of racing. I am ready to see all my, and my three teammates, dedication come together and see what we can do this weekend."
Fredrick, a Cheyenne, WY native, is currently an exercise science major and will be graduating this spring.
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Black Hills State is located in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota, sponsoring 13 NCAA sports with membership in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, the NCAA emerging sport of women's triathlon and NIRA rodeo. For all information regarding Yellow Jacket Athletics, please visit BHSUAthletics.com or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @BHSUAthletics.
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