Former Boise State track and field star and NCAA champion Emma Bates made history with a fifth place finish in the woman’s division of the Boston Marathon Monday.
Bates, who ran at Boise State from 2010-15, held the lead with about four miles remaining before falling off the pace in the final few miles. The top-5 finish is the best ever for a Boise State alum, and it secured her qualifier for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The time of 2:22.10 was a personal best for Bates, who finished second at the 2021 Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:24.20. She was the top American finisher.
“It was a good first Boston, so I’m very proud of myself for sticking out there,” Bates told the Boston Globe. “All I was thinking about for those last 4 miles was just to float. … I was hoping someone would have a Modelo for me at the finish line, but that didn’t happen, so gonna find one of those pronto.”
A Minnesotan, Elk River native Emma Bates, in lead pack at Boston Marathon! Near Mile 22. #BostonMarathon pic.twitter.com/QvKHKfIGkj
— Corey Bork (@CCXNewsDirector) April 17, 2023
Bates was inducted into the Boise State Hall of Fame in 2022. She was a 12-time All-American for the Broncos and was the national champion in the 10,000 meters in 2014. Twice she won the Mountain West Female Athlete of the Year and was a nine-time conference champion.
The 30-year-old Bates ran with the lead pack from the start and even held the lead with about three miles remaining before slowly falling behind eventual leader Hellen Obiri.
Her final time was just eight seconds off the American course record set by Shalane Flanagan in 2014.
“It was just really surreal,” Bates told the Boston Globe. “I got to halfway and that’s when things [should) get really hard, but it wasn’t getting that much harder, and I still was pushing the pace and found myself in the lead. That was unexpected, because I thought I was gonna be chasing people down.”
BNN’s Collin Mitchell contributed to this report.
