Alaska runner Allie Ostrander finishes 2nd among Americans at cross country world championships

Alaska’s Allie Ostrander placed 30th at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.

Ostrander, who grew up in Soldotna and ran for Kenai Central, finished in a time of 34 minutes, 11 seconds.

She told the website Let’s Run that her goal was to finish in the top 30 and that she was happy to score for Team USA as the second-fastest American.

“I’m pretty happy,” she said. “My plan was to go out conservative and try and stay relaxed and move up as much as I could, just because of the heat and the weirdness of the course. I was happy with it.”

Kenyan runners took the top five positions in the race, which was won by Beatrice Chebet, who finished in a time of 31:05.

Ostrander, who now races out of Seattle, was the second-fastest American runner behind Weini Kelati Frezghi, who finished 15th in 32:53.

Ostrander was an All-American at Boise State and won the NCAA Division I women’s steeplechase in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Ostrander qualified for Worlds by placing fourth at U.S. Cross Country Championships in January.