Fleshman Starred In The 5000 Meters

Lauren Fleshman learned an important lesson in March of 2003.

Fleshman, then a four-time national champion with back-to-back titles in the outdoor 5000 and an indoor 3000 crown from the previous year to boot, entered the 2003 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships as the odds-on favorite to complete the distance sweep.

A supposed coronation never came to fruition as Fleshman ended up a distant fourth in the 5000 and rallied for a close runner-up finish in the 3000 the next day. In fact, North Carolina junior Shalane Flanagan’s 0.53-second triumph over Fleshman in the 3000 was the smallest margin of victory in that event in the past 20 years.

“That was a really good reminder to be prepared for anything,” Fleshman told John Schumacher of the Sacramento Bee in 2003 about her weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Three months later, Fleshman and Flanagan met up again in the 5000-meter final at the 2003 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, California. One might think home-track advantage would play into Fleshman’s favor with it being less than two hours from Stanford’s campus, but Flanagan was undefeated against collegians that year.

A brisk early pace proved too much for many of the competitors to handle, leaving Flanagan, Fleshman and Colorado’s Sara Gorton at the front through 3200 meters. Flanagan and Fleshman picked up the tempo even more on the ninth lap, which dropped Gorton. As Flanagan made her move with 700 meters to go, Fleshman matched her stride for stride and then dropped the hammer with a 65.5-second final lap to win by more than six seconds.

Fleshman finished in 15:24.06, which demolished the previous meet record of 15:37.77, set by Amy Skieresz of Arizona five years earlier. It was the biggest improvement in that event’s meet record since North Carolina State’s Betty Springs took 19 seconds off the standard in 1983.

Post-collegiate success followed for Fleshman.

Fleshman was a two-time U.S. champion at 5000 Meters with victories in 2006 and 2010, as well as a runner-up finish in 2005. Then, at the 2011 World Championships in South Korea, Fleshman equaled the best finish by an American woman in the 5000 with her seventh-place effort.