No Longer a Bronco, Allie Ostrander Just Might Be the Dark Horse of USAs – runnersworld.com

Allie Ostrander is here to buck expectations—and she’s doing it with a smile. Though she’s been called too short to hurdle, she has won more consecutive NCAA 3,000-meter steeplechase titles than any runner in history. When people told her she looked “too young” to be a serious competitor, she signed a professional running contract fresh out of college.

“The best comment I’ve heard is that my face looks ‘too young,’ as if you have to have an old face to be a good runner. I don’t understand that one at all,” Ostrander, 22, told Runner’s World. “It frustrates me that people have this picture in their mind of what a professional runner or steeplechaser looks like. It makes me mad, but it also fuels my fire. I like to prove them wrong.”

Last month, the Boise State redshirt junior won her third straight NCAA title in the steeplechase, becoming the first collegiate runner to accomplish that streak. (Olympian Jenny Simpson, who ran for the University of Colorado, also notched three steeplechase titles, but not consecutively.)

A few weeks later, Ostrander—who graduated in May with a degree in kinesiology—announced on social media that she was forgoing her final year of college eligibility to run professionally with the Brooks Beasts team in Seattle, Washington, starting this fall.

This month, Ostrander will make her professional running debut in steeple at the USA Track and Field National Championships, which start on July 25 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Ostrander’s decision to go pro was a difficult one, she said, because it meant leaving three remaining college seasons with her Boise State teammates and coach, Corey Ihmels, on the table.

“My coach tried to convince me to stay, but ultimately he was supportive of my decision,” said Ostrander. “My teammates and family members were all really supportive too, which was really great.”

The native of Kenai, Alaska, immediately made her mark with the Broncos as a freshman, placing runner-up to Notre Dame’s Molly Seidel at the 2015 NCAA cross country championships. She then redshirted her 2016 outdoor track and cross country seasons, as well as the 2017 indoor track season.

“I dealt with a few injuries when I was younger, and since then, I’ve learned that it’s not always about training more and more, but about training smarter,” Ostrander said. “When I was growing up, I played a lot of soccer and basketball, and I think it’s healthy to have other sports to focus on besides running. I cross-train and strength-train a lot more now. It’s easy to think that stuff’s not important, that all you need to do is run. But that’s not true.”

In 2017, after a year off from competition, she came back to win her first of three NCAA steeple titles in a then-career best of 9:41.31. Over the next few years, she lowered her steeplechase time to 9:37.73, then clocked 15:24.74 for 5,000 meters and 32:06.71 for 10,000 meters, setting six school records in the process.

Though Ostrander left Boise to move back home following the 2019 NCAAs, she said she is still being coached by Ihmels up until USAs.

On July 26 in Des Moines, Ostrander is competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase against some of the best American women steeplechasers in history: seven-time national champion and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Emma Coburn, 2016 Olympian and American record-holder Courtney Frerichs, and Colleen Quigley, who placed eighth in the 2016 Olympic steeplechase and is the reigning national indoor mile champion.

Watch: Ostrander is among the fresh faces looking to dethrone accomplished veterans at the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships.

“They’re definitely intimidating, but also inspiring,” said Ostrander, who raced against the three at the Prefontaine Classic earlier this summer. “I’m excited to race with them, because I know they can pull me to faster times. They also motivate me, because they became professional runners soon after college, too. It’s exciting to think that I can be at their level someday.”

While preparing for USAs, Ostrander has been soaking up the mountain trails and extra-long summer days in her Alaskan hometown. “Living in Boise, I got used to it getting dark at night,” she said. “I had to get blackout curtains when I moved back home, because it’s always daylight here.”

After wrapping up USAs, Ostrander is relocating to Seattle, where the Brooks Beasts live and train. On top of Seattle’s proximity to her home in Alaska, Ostrander said another bonus of the city is its abundant green spaces to run on.

“They have an awesome setup in Seattle. The Brooks headquarters is there, with a great training room and lots of trails,” she said. But amenities aside, she’s most excited about getting to know her teammates and coach, Danny Mackey, who she admires for his scientific approach to training.

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“Since I studied exercise science, I love that he bases his training plans around science,” Ostrander said.

Coming off of her stunning college career, she’s certainly poised for a breakthrough on the pro circuit. At the 2016 Olympic Trials, when she was 19, she placed eighth in the 5,000-meter final. For the rest of this summer, she’ll focus on training in the steeplechase, but she said she isn’t sure what event she’ll be preparing for this fall and winter, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the horizon.

Making Olympic and world championship teams are certainly goals for the young runner. For now, though, Ostrander’s still getting used to her new job title.

“I’ve wanted to be a professional runner since I first had some success in college,” she said. “I love running, so the fact that I get to do what I love every day is pretty incredible. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.”

Digital Editor Hailey first got hooked on running news as an intern with Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner’s World and Bicycling magazines.