PALO ALTO, Calif. – In the world's fastest men's 10,000-meter run to date in 2012, Northern Arizona junior Diego Estrada obliterated the Olympic 'A' Standard in the event with a time of 27:32.90 at the Payton Jordan Invitational, placing fifth in the stacked field and punching his ticket to the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.
After closing the race in 2:04 for the last 800 meters, including a blistering 59-second final quarter mile, Estrada is now officially part of the Mexican national team for this summer's Olympic Games.
"He ran perfectly, I mean, he didn't go to the front right and hammer away right at the start like he usually does, but instead he was patient in the first 5K like you need to do in a 10K race," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Eric Heins. "After he made it through 5K, he just worked his way up to where he could be in the front five or six guys and stayed there the rest of the race."
Estrada, running unattached due to his redshirt status this outdoor season, held no worse than eighth place for the majority of the 25-lap race at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational, and even took the lead for a time with three laps to go.
"I honestly didn't think I could run the 'A' standard, but I told Coach that I didn't come here to run 28 minutes," said Estrada. "I took it and was conscious of what was going on, and with 400 meters to go I just started hammering and told myself I wasn't going to miss it."
The Salinas, Calif. native, who was named NAU Male Athlete of the Year earlier Sunday, had the help of numerous family and friends, as well as his high school coach, Nacho Flores, cheering him on down the home stretch each time around the oval.
"You could see him pass two or three people every time he got to the straightaway when the crowd started cheering for him," said Heins, who, with the help of Flores, recruited Estrada out of Alisal High School in 2008. "That gave him a huge boost, I believe. He's never run poorly up here at Stanford because of that."
Northern Arizona alum Lopez Lomong, recent standard-bearer for the Franke College of Business at last December's commencement ceremonies, competed as well on Sunday, taking the world lead in the 5,000 meters, albeit in unconventional fashion. Lomong finished the race in 13:11.63, an Olympic 'A' standard in itself, but not before he came to a complete stop after thinking he had completed the race one lap prematurely.
The 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London, England last from July 27 through August 12. The men's 10,000-meter final is scheduled to be run August 4, 2012 at 9:15 p.m. local time.
