Arizona track and field traveled to Palo Alto, Calif., to compete in the Stanford Invitational on Friday, which consisted of schools ranging from Wisconsin to Boise State, all the way to Concordia.

At the same time, some of Arizona’s long distance runners ran at the San Francisco Distance Carnival. Senior Kristina Aubert competed in the 10K invitational section that consisted of many top collegiate and professional runners.

Aubert got a personal best time of 33:47.66 minutes during her 10K race. That time is the sixth best in program history and placed her No. 16 against other college runners.  

Aubert said she enjoys running the 10K as well as the 5K and does not have a race preference. She also said she was impressed with how she did Friday night.

Aubert did add that she wishes she finished her race stronger at the end, with the intensity she had during the race.

Senior Elvin Kibet also ran the women’s 10K and did a phenomenal job with keeping her time in a consistent career-high range. She had a time of 32:57.0, which is the third-best time of her career, and ended up finishing in 10th place overall and in fourth place against other college competitors.

Both Aubert and Kibet guaranteed themselves a spot in the 10K run at the NCAA West Preliminary round.

To train for running for the 10K, athletes are required to run long distances and complete lengthy practice sessions, Aubert explained.

Sophomore Collins Kibet also achieved his best time of 3:43.86 in the 1,500-meter race, which placed him in third place. Senior Sam Macaluso competed in the 5K and won his section with a time of 14:06.51, which is about a second away from his personal best time of 14:05.38.

In the women’s 5K, junior Hanna Peterson got her personal-best time of 16:59.60. Freshman Addi Zerrenner finished in 19th place with a time of 17:09.63. Senior Molly Callahan also ran the 5K and had a personal-best time of 16:34.05.

For her next races, Aubert said she hopes to improve on her 5K time.

“I hope to run a 16:30 in the 5K,” Aubert said.

At the San Francisco Distance Carnival, freshman Michael Godbout competed in the 1,500-meter race and had a time of 3:53.65, which allowed him to be 24th overall.

Senior Kenji Bierig ran the 3K steeplechase and completed it in a time of 9:19.85. Junior Jonas Legernes ran in the same race and had a time of 9:25.94.  

The track and field team still has a long season ahead of it, but with the way each athlete is running — with intensity, motivation and determination — the sky is the limit for the Wildcats.

Arizona’s next stop is in Tucson at the Jim Click Shootout Multis at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

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Follow Stevie Katz on Twitter.