Men’s 5000: Ky Robinson Makes It Look Easy to Complete the Double

AUSTIN, Tex. — Anyone who watched Ky Robinson of Stanford win the men’s 10,000 two days ago here at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where he closed a 28:10 race run in hot conditions with a 54.19 last lap, knew his kick was lethal. Tonight in the men’s 5000 final, Robinson proved he’s a class above everyone in the NCAA right now as he used a 55.54 final lap to close off a 4:04.47 final 1600 and win the men’s 5000 comfortably by 1.76 seconds in 14:04.77. Harvard’s Graham Blanks, the second-fastest man in the NCAA this year during the regular season (13:24.91) also was doubling back from the 10,000 (6th place) and took second in 14:06.53 with Wisconsin’s Jackson Sharp third in 14:06.77. 2022 NCAA indoor 5,000 and 2023 NCAA 10,000 champ Dylan Jacobs of Tennessee was a DNS and told LetsRun.com that in recent weeks his back has been bothering him.

The Race

The race was tactical until the last mile, not a surprise given the mid-80 temps with high humidity. At halfway, they were 7:25sh. Things didn’t really get going until a 4 laps remained when Nico Young, the NCAA XC runner-up and last year’s 5000 3rd placer, made a big move and broke things up with a 60.94. He followed that up with a 64.02 and only 8 guys were in the lead pack with 800 to go. Surprisingly, one of them wasn’t the NCAA leader and Pac-12 10,000 and 5,000 champ Brian Fay of Washington (13:21.99 sb), who was in fifth when Young made his move but only 11th and more than 3 seconds off the lead with 800 to go.

Young wasn’t rewarded for his bold move as he would fade to 8th over the final two laps. Fay only ended up 9th. Robinson used a 63.47 penultimate lap to move from 7th to 1st and ran all alone on the last lap.

Results

Quick Take: No, you’re not dreaming, Ky Robinson

It has been a terrific year for Stanford’s distance program as the Cardinal claimed its first NCAA XC individual title through Charles Hicks and this weekend swept the 5k/10k with Robinson – the first man to pull off the double since Edward Cheserek in 2016.

“I feel like I’m about to wake up from a dream,” Robinson said. “This is something I wanted to do in my four, however many years I’m here at Stanford. Third year, third time here, I have no words.”

Robinson, a Brisbane native, is used to the heat and felt it may have affected him less than the other runners. We’re more inclined to credit Robinson’s kick, which was untouchable this weekend, but being used to racing in 80-degree temperatures certainly didn’t hurt.

“I feel like the heat played a little bit of a factor. I was able to adapt to these conditions pretty well,” said Robinson, who also finished an impressive 23rd in the senior race at World XC in February.

Overall it was a great weekend for Stanford as the Cardinal finished 3rd as a team with 44 points from just three athletes – Robinson (20) and Hicks (11) and sprinter Udodi Onwuzurike (13), who won the 200 and finished 6th in the 100. This was Stanford’s first trip to the podium at NCAA outdoors since 2001.

The question now is whether the Cardinal can claim the one title that has eluded them in recent years, the NCAA cross country crown. Stanford has not won NCAAs since 2003 and was only 4th last fall despite entering NCAAs ranked #1 (an ill-timed injury to Cole Sprout derailed Stanford’s title hopes). If Hicks and Robinson return this fall, can the Cardinal – who will be getting two of the nation’s top recruits in Lex and Leo Young – finally end the XC drought in November?

Quick Take: Robinson dominated but what happened to Fay?

When Jacobs didn’t show on the start line, we figured this race was either going to Fay or Robinson. Fay, a 3:52 miler, seemed hard to beat, as his speed works great in a tactical race, and of course, if the pace had been fast, it’s unlikely the NCAA leader would have been easily dropped. But when the racing started Fay was nowhere to be seen. We didn’t get a chance to talk to Fay but these hot and humid conditions certainly aren’t something the Irishman who attends UW is used to.

Quick Take: Next up for Graham Blanks, a trip to the UK

Harvard’s Graham Blanks arrived as a top US distance prospect when he ran 13:27.39 in 2021 as a 19-year-old when he took a COVID-19 gap year prior to starting college as the Ivy League had shut down all sports. That was at the time the #3 U20 time in US history (now #4). He’s excelled in XC both years at Harvard, finishing 23rd in 2021 and 6th in 2022, but struggled with Achilles problems last year as he missed indoors and only opened up at conference outdoors and didn’t even make it to the NCAAs in Eugene.

Healthy all year this year, he’s now knocking on the door of an NCAA title. Coach Alex Gibby praised Blanks’ toughness, coachability and his desire to work on his weaknesses. He said they’d been working on his close all year, squeezing things down and he executed that to near perfection tonight.

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Considering the Harvard team is taking its quadrennial trip to the UK to battle Oxford and Cambridge in the coming weeks, it seems like a trip to USAs is a long shot but Blanks didn’t rule it out.

It’s worth noting this race included three of four fastest U20 5000 runners in US history. The US U20 record holder, Parker Wolfe of North Carolina (13:19.73 in December 2022) was fifth (14:07.50) while the former record holder Nico Young (13:22.59 in December 2021) was 8th.

Quick take: Will Nico Young ever win an NCAA title?

NCAA titles are very hard to win. Just ask Chris Derrick.

Nico Young was a phenomenal high school runner and is a really good college one. This thread was started a few years ago and every time an NCAA championship rolls around, people start posting in it again: Hot (dumb) take – Nico Young will never win an NCAA individual title.

A slow race because of the heat through 2 miles is not the type of race for Nico to win. He tried to make a really big move with 1600 to go, and it didn’t pay off. Not sure what else he could have done tonight except try to be bold, but his burst of speed with a mile to go was not measured enough. Probably wouldn’t have made a difference as he’s not a kicker, and that’s usually what it takes to win NCAA titles on the track. His best shot is XC, where he still has two years of eligibility remaining.