Ostrander finishes 7th in 3,000 meters at US indoor track championships

A week after her dramatic win at the Millrose Games, Alaska’s Allie Ostrander placed seventh in the women’s 3,000-meter race Friday at the USATF Indoor Championships.

Racing at altitude, Ostrander placed seventh in a field dominated by Shelby Houlihan, who won the 3,000 and the 1,500 for her 12th and 13th national championships.

Houlihan led from the start and won in 8 minutes, 52.03 seconds. Ostrander, who settled into seventh place midway through the race, clocked 9:03.55.

Ostrander, 23, was well off her personal-best time of 8:48.94, recorded at the Millrose Games in New York City, where she came from behind to win in the final 200 meters. The Kenai Central graduate turned pro last spring after winning her third straight NCAA steeplechase championship, and the Millrose victory was her first as a pro.

Altitude was a factor in Friday’s race — Albuquerque is 5,300 feet above sea level.

“Just out here living the dream, doing some extreme mouth breathing, and hacking up 1-2 lungs as I race indoor at 5000ft,” Ostrander said on Instagram.

The indoor championships were supposed to decide the U.S. team for this year’s world indoor championships. But the world meet was scheduled for March in China and has been pushed back to next year because of the coronavirus and its rapid spread in China.

Ostrander runs for the Brooks Beasts, a professional team based in Seattle.