EMPORIA, Kan. Western Colorado picked up All-American honors in four of the five events in which it had competitors Saturday during the final session of the 2024 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Ali Aldrich started the awards run by placing fifth in the shot put in the initial individual women's event at Welch Stadium on the campus of Emporia University.
The two-time winner of the event at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships, Aldrich on Saturday was able to advance from the preliminary three rounds with a toss of 15.40 meters (50 feet-6.25 inches) on her third attempt.
None of the nine throwers in the final's three rounds played it safe as out of the group's 27 attempts, 17 were fouls including all three of Aldrich's.
Her preliminary round throw held up for fifth place overall, earning Aldrich a second consecutive first-team All-American honor in the event.
Nearly three hours later it was Simon Kelati's turn as he stepped to the starting line of the men's 1,500-meter run.
The national champion in the 3,000 at the 2024 indoor championship, Kelati went out with the leaders at the front of the pack Saturday in the 1,500.
The pack of 12 finalists cruised together through the opening 1,000 meters, finally beginning their go-for-broke kick coming into the straightaway opposite the finish line.
Coming around the final turn the pack spread out only slightly more, with Kelati hitting the final straightaway in fourth place. It was over the final 10 meters that Kelati caught the runner just ahead, winning the lean across the finish to take third place with a time of 3 minutes, 54.73 seconds, just 3/100ths of a second ahead of the fourth-place finisher.
Kelati's first-team All-American race had to inspire Western's next runner, Leah Taylor in the final of the 1,500 women's event.
The No. 6 seed coming into the championship final, Taylor placed herself on the inside and middle of the pack through 1,100 meters.
Sitting in seventh place entering the final backstretch, Taylor began to pick up her pace but entered the final turn still in seventh.
She broke from the inside and passed a pair of runners on the outside of the turn then held on to sprint across the finish line in fifth place, posting a career-best time of 4:23.99 to earn first-team All-America honors and to move up to fifth on Western's all-time list in the event.
The final individual event of the championships were the men's and women's 5,000, with Western represented in both races.
Kelati returned for his second event of the day and was joined by teammate Tyler Nord for a race run under hot, 88-degrees, and humid conditions.
The 19 runners in the event ran a cautious race through the opening 2,000 meters but things began to stretch out from a pack to single file soon after.
Kelati and Nord ran much of the middle of the race shoulder to shoulder, eventually moving up into top 10 positions heading into the last 1,600.
Kelati would hang on to finish seventh in 14:48.27 for his second first-team All-American honor of the day, while Nord would earn a second-team All-American award with a 10th-place finish with a time of 14:57.22.
Taylor stepped back onto the oval with 21 others for the women's 5,000, the large field mimicking the men with a cautious approach in the early going.
As the field stretched out nearing the 2,000-meter mark, Taylor placed herself toward the back of the pack, playing it safe after her sprint to the finish in the day's earlier race.
She would eventually climb from 20th place as she passed the line at 2,200 meters to finish in 14th place, completing her final event of the championships with a time of 17:25.14.
In the team standings, the Mountaineer women tied for 29th place with 8 points while the men finished tied for 31st place, also with 8 points.
