American Collegiate Record Earns Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards

Track and field fans voiced their choices in this week's DyeStat's Performance of the Week poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

Readers’ Choice: Tyler Day

With 46.39 percent of the vote, Tyler Day won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Jessica Hull with her second-place tally of 18.25 percent.

The Northern Arizona senior has returned to action this month for the first time in an NAU uniform since the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships (he was out of cross country eligibility).

Day opened his senior indoor campaign last week with a mile and 3,000-meter double at the Lumberjack Team Challenge. He finished third in both races, running 4:08.22 for the mile and 8:38.61 for 3,000 meters.

Those times may not seem off the charts, but it is important to remember that the meet was held in Flagstaff, Ariz. at over 6,800 feet elevation. Although Day's mile was a personal best.

This week, Day and several of his NAU teammates traveled to Boston to compete at the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Invitational. running in the 5,000 meters, Day remained competitive throughout, finishing second to professional runner Paul Tanui of Kenya.

Tanui, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist and three time World Championships bronze medalist at 10,000 meters, made his indoor debut in Boston.

Day finished close behind Tanui, one second down, running 13:16.95. His previous outdoor best was 13:25.06 at last year's Payton Jordan Invitational.

Editors’ Choice: Tyler Day

There were a lot of great all-time performances this past week. Day's 5,000-meter performance marked both a significant improvement, but it also elevated him to third on the collegiate indoor all-time list. Day's previous indoor best was 13:49.53 at the 2017 Iowa State Classic.

Day now sits behind only Lawi Lalang and Stephen Sambu, who ran 13:08.28 and 13:13.74, respectively, in 2012. Also of note, Day's time places him ahead of Galen Rupp. That makes Day the American collegiate record holder in the indoor 5,000 meters. Rupp held that record at 13:18.12 since 2009.

There are two big meets still on the horizon for Day this season. He will presumably compete at the Big Sky Indoor Championships and the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships. Day will certainly feature in the 5,000 meters at nationals, but if he intends to double in the 3,000 meters, he will need a better seed mark. His altitude adjusted time of 8:17.05 places him 73rd on the qualifying list. He needs to be in the top 16 to earn a spot in the 3,000 meters at nationals.