COLLEGE STATION, Texas — History was made on Thursday evening in College Station, as Rayna Stanziano became the first female Gael to compete at the NCAA West Prelims. After qualifying for the 1500m the last time she ran it, Stanziano headed to Texas A&M for the West Prelim, where she would go up against the top runners in the country. With the field split up into four heats, Stanziano ran in the third grouping, but was not fast enough to advance to the second round on Saturday, thus ending her season.
 
The third heat had some of the fastest times in the country on the entry list, including Krissy Gear of Arkansas, who had the second-fastest 1500m time of the year at 4:09. Joining Stanziano from California in the third heat were a pair of Stanford runners in Ella Donaghu and Christina Aragon, as well as Trinity Ruelas of Cal State Fullerton. Stanziano had the seventh-fastest qualifying time amongst runners in her heat.
 
The format for advancing into the second round on Saturday meant that Stanziano needed to finish inside the top-five of her heat (on paper, an improvement of two spots) or be one of the four-fastest times among all runners outside of the top-five in a heat. To no one's surprise, Gear won the heat with a time of 4:21.69 and advanced automatically, as well as Aragon and Donaghu. The times, however, were much slower than their qualifying marks, with strategy coming into play from the starting gun.
 
As a matter of fact, 300m into the race, no one was faster than Stanziano, who pulled out to a slim lead over Aragon by 0.03 seconds. 700m into the race and Stanziano was still pacing the field, with a lead of 0.04 seconds over Aragon and others. The final 800m were a different story, however, as others were saving some in the tank, while Stanziano was fading. Stanziano came across the finish line in 4:37.04, about four-seconds behind Paige Hildebrandt of Grand Canyon for 11^th.
 
"Tonight was a great learning experience for Rayna on a record year," head coach Marty Kinsey said following Rayna's race. 'She did so well through everything and now has a great opportunity to come back next year stronger and with much more experience under her belt."

Despite the outcome, Stanziano was in good spirits following her first crack at the NCAA West Prelims. "I'm grateful to have had this opportunity to run at the national level while representing my team and contributing to a big milestone for our program," she said. "Although my race didn't go the way I had hoped, I enjoyed the experience and will use the knowledge I gained to continue improving. This season has been a major affirmation to me that I can accomplish more than I thought possible. I am grateful to have an amazing support system from my teammates and coaches, and I am honored to be the first female NCAA West Prelims qualifier from our school."