Allie Ostrander

Allison "Allie" Ostrander (born December 24, 1996) is an American long-distance runner from Soldotna, Alaska. The repeat NCAA Division I steeplechase champion in 2017, 2018 and 2019, she competed for the Boise State University Broncos. In July 2019, Ostrander announced her plans to forgo her final season of NCAA eligibility and begin running professionally.

Personal life

Ostrander was born in Kenai, Alaska in 1996, the daughter of Teri and Paul Ostrander. She has an older sister, Taylor, who was a top middle distance, steeplechase, and cross country runner at Kenai Central High School and at the NCAA Division III Willamette University, where she had a best steeple time of 10:40:06 as a sophomore in 2014.

A standout in both athletics and academics, Ostrander graduated from Kenai Central high school in 2015. She began competing in the steeplechase while running for the Boise State Broncos, where she was an Honors student, finishing with a 4.0 Grade Point Average.

Ostrander frequently competes in the Mount Marathon Race in Seward, Alaska, which she began running in grade school. She won the half-distance, junior version of the race six consecutive times from 2009 to 2014, beating not only the girls but the boys in her final year of the Junior race. In 2015, in her first senior race, which climbs to the 3,022-foot summit and returns to sea level, she finished under the standing 25-year-old female runners record, but was beaten by world skyrunning champion Emelie Forsberg. In 2017, Ostrander won with her best time to date, 49:19.

In 2021, Ostrander was hospitalized for treatment of an unspecified eating disorder. She bounced back to run in the Olympic Trials, setting a personal best of (9:26.96) for the steeplechase while finishing in 8th place in the finals. She had qualified for the 10,000-meter run but chose to forego the event.

Her domestic partner is Spencer Brown, a former Brooks Beasts middle-distance runner and host of YouTube channel The Athlete Special.

High school career

In high school, Ostrander played on the basketball team alongside her running, in which she was coached by her mother. Her main events were in cross country, hurdles (48.31 PR for 300m), and distance running. She won her first state 4A (large school) championship when only a sophomore. In 2013, despite only six weeks of training, she finished second to Alexa Efraimson of Washington state, clocking 10:03.66 in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational 3200m in California. In 2014, her senior year, she won the Nike National Cross-Country high school championship.

Collegiate career

2015

In September 2015, Ostrander won the U20 World Mountain Running Championships in Betws-y-Coed, Wales, UK. Later that month, she finished second in the 6 km Roy Griak Invitational cross country race. On October 16, she won the prestigious Wisconsin Adidas Invitational 6 km in 19:19.5. Two weeks later, she won her Mountain West Conference championship, followed in another two weeks by an NCAA Division I West Region victory. On November 21, she finished as the runner up in the 2015 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in 19:33.6, a performance others called remarkable for a freshman.

2016

In January, Ostrander set a personal record (PR) for 5000 m, with a 15.21.85 second-place performance at the University of Washington Invitational indoor meet. At the Husky Classic in February she set another PR, running 8:54.27 for 3,000 meters. Later that month she anchored her Broncos distance medley team to a first-place finish at the Mountain West Indoor Track and Field Championships, but was sidelined with an injury soon afterward. In July she finished in 8th place in the Olympic Trials 5,000 meters.

2017

Ostrander returned to form by winning the Stanford invitational 3000 m steeplechase in 9:55.61. In May, at the Mountain West Championships, she set a PR while winning the 10000 m running in 35:51.2. She finished second in the 5,000 in that meet with a time of 16:20.45. In June, she won the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships steeplechase title in 9:41.31. Just a few hours later, she finished fourth in the 5,000 meters. In November, she ended her hiatus from cross country finishing second in the 6,000 meters in the NCAA West Region Championships with a career best time of 19:16.5, then finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships on November 18.

2018

Running as a redshirt sophomore at the Mountain West Indoor Championships in February, she set a PR for the mile run in 4:46.06, finished second in the 3,000 meters, and again anchored Boise State's winning distance medley squad. On May 10, 2018, Ostrander finished less than a second behind collegiate event record holder Karissa Schweizer in the 2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships at 3,000 meters, registering a time of 8:54.35. On March 29, 2018 moving outdoors, she set a PR, winning the Stanford Invitational, with a steeple time of 9:38.57. It was the world's fastest time in 2018 for the event by that date. Dropping in distance, she ran a PR 4:15.06 for 1500 m at the Bryan Clay Invitational. At the Mountain West Outdoor Championships, she won the 5,000 meters and finished second in the 1500. On May 25, 2018, Ostrander again qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships by running 9:40.20 in winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Sacramento, California. A day later, she qualified for the 5,000 meters as well, by finishing second in her heat in 15:27.46. In a repeat performance at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, she posted the fastest time in the steeplechase preliminary heats, winning the final after running easily with the leaders for six laps, then leaving the other medalists five seconds behind. In the 5,000 meter race, a little over an hour later, she ran with the leaders until the last 200 meters, finishing eighth, less than five seconds behind first place.

On November 9, Ostrander won the NCAA Division I West Region Cross Country Championships, prevailing over a formidable field by 13.5 seconds, in a personal best of 19:09.0/ Her effort helped take the Broncos to finish as the second team, four points behind Oregon. On November 17, along with Anna Rohrer she led the tightly packed leaders through the first 4,000 meters of the NCAA Championship. She faded slightly toward the end, finishing sixth to Colorado's Dani Jones in 19:56.9, 1.7 seconds out of fourth place. Her efforts guided the Broncos to a 6th place team finish. On December 1, she began her indoor track season by setting a PR in the 5,000 meters, running 15:16.38 in the Boston University, finishing fourth, 1.6 seconds out of 1st place. She was just behind NCAA Division I distance running standouts, Kenyans Sharon Lokedi of the University of Kansas, and Ednah Kurgat and Eritrean Weini Kelati, both of the University of New Mexico.

2019

On January 26, Ostrander broke the Boise State school record for the mile at the University of Washington Indoor Meet, setting a personal record 4:35.79, for third place, .59 seconds behind Nike Oregon Track Club's Hanna Green and Oklahoma State University's Sinclare Johnson. With her running the mile leg, her distance medley team set a school record. At the Stanford Invitational on March 29, 2019, Ostrander bypassed the steeple to run the invitational 10,000m, finishing third in 32.06.7, the year's best time through April by a collegian, to professionals Emily Sisson and U.S. record holder Molly Huddle. On May 2, she returned to the steeple at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Stanford, California, to win in her closest finish ever, .05 seconds over New Mexico State's Adva Cohen. On June 8, as a redshirt junior, she repeated her NCAA steeple win, marking the first-ever woman to win the event three straight times. Her winning time was 9:37.73, breaking her own stadium record and setting a personal best in 98-degree heat. New Mexico Lobos standout Charlotte Prouse, finished second, almost seven seconds behind. On June 30, she finished 13th with a personal best of 9:31.44 in a star-studded international field in Palo Alto, California, at the Prefontaine Classic. She was the fourth American in the race.

Ostrander completed her collegiate career as the most-decorated student-athlete in Boise State history, and was inducted into the Boise State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024. Her collegiate accomplishments included three consecutive NCAA titles in the 3,000 meter steeplechase; she is the only Division I female athlete to win three-straight national titles in that event, and the only Boise State athlete to have won three national championships in any event. She was also the national runner-up in two other events. In addition, she was a 13-time All-American, eight-time Mountain West champion, and was named the Mountain West Conference's all-sport Female Athlete of the Year in the 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19 seasons -- the only student-athlete in league history, male or female, to have won the award three times.

Professional career

2019–2021

After the 2019 Prefontaine Classic race, Ostrander decided to forego her last seasons of college eligibility to go professional. She signed contracts with agent Ray Flynn and with Brooks Running to become a member of the Brooks Beasts Track Club, under the tutelage of Danny Mackey.

On July 28, Ostrander finished fourth in the steeplechase at the 2019 USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, trailing the trio who had represented the United States in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Because Emma Coburn, who ran 9:25.63, was the defending World Champion from 2017, and consequently was an automatic qualifier to the 2019 World Championships, U.S. record-holder Courtney Frerichs, who ran 9:26.61, Colleen Quigley, with a 9:30.97, and Ostrander, at 9:38.52, all also qualified to run in Doha, Qatar in September.

On September 8, Ostrander ran in New York City's extremely competitive Fifth Avenue Mile, running the road race in 4:33.5 and finishing 16th out of the 20 elite runners. In February 2020, she won the 3,000 at the venerable Millrose Games in New York City, in a personal best of 8:48:94 despite a nagging Achilles injury.

In Doha, Ostrander had run 9:30:85 in her heat, barely missing the final, while trimming seven seconds off her Personal Best. On April 2, 2020, she received platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy to help accelerate the healing of her torn Achilles tendon. She trained at altitude in New Mexico with NCAA 1500 meter champion teammates Karisa Nelson, Marta Pen Freitas, and 5000 runner Allie Buchalski. Also in 2020, Ostrander began a volunteer coaching position with the NCAA DII distance running program at Seattle Pacific University.

In 2021, Ostrander ended her contract with Brooks in order to step away from professional running and put her mental and physical health first.

2023

In February 2023, Ostrander signed a contract with NNormal. In a Q&A on her YouTube channel days later, she announced that she would focus more on trail running but still plans to run some track races in the future. On August 25, 2023, Ostrander was suspended for 4 months by USADA after testing positive for a banned substance in a test on March 30, 2023. The substance, canrenone, is a metabolite of spironolactone which was found to have been a component of a prescription acne medicine for which Ostrander had not obtained a Therapeutic Use Exemption.

At the expiration of this suspension, Ostrander returned to trail running competition in the Golden Trail Series Pike's Peak Ascent on September 16, 2023, finishing in 20th place and then a 9th place finish at the Mammoth 26K on September 22, 2023 . At the Golden Trail World Series finals on October 19-22, 2023 in Liguria, Italy Ostrander placed 7th in the prologue race and 19th in the Championship final.

In the fall of 2023 Ostrander began to be coached by David Roche. That January she got 4th at the 2024 USA Cross Country Championships allowing her to compete at the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

2024-present

She won the 3000 meter steeplechase at the Portland Track Festival in June 2024, getting a PR of 9:24.70. A few weeks later, she competed at the US Olympic Trials, finishing 7th in the 3000 meter steeplechase final, setting a new PR of 9:21.82.

Competitions

Honors

• 2015 World Mountain Running Championships Junior Champion
• 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field First-Team All-America- 3000m steeplechase,
• NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Second-Team All-America- 5,000m,
• Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Champion- 5,000m
• First-Team All-America- Indoor 3000m
• First-Team All-America- Indoor 5000m
• NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner- Indoor Track and Field
• Mountain West Champion- Distance Medley Relay
• Mountain West Conference Champion- Indoor 3000m
• 2018 Cross Country NCAA All-American
• NCAA West Region Cross Country Champion
• NCAA Outdoor Track and Field First-Team All-America- 5,000m
• Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Champion- 5,000m
• NCAA Indoor Track and Field First-Team All-American- 3,000m
• NCAA Indoor Track and Field First-Team All-American, Distance Medley Relay
• Mountain West Champion- Distance Medley Relay
• 2016, 2018, 2019 Honda Sports Award Finalist- Cross Country
• NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner- Cross Country
• NCAA 5,000m First-Team All-American
• Boise State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024
• Alaska Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024

Critique of athletics coverage

In 2018, NCAA commentator Jill Montgomery referred to Ostrander as the NCAA steeplechase, as the "baby-faced assassin", and said she looked like she still played with "Barbie Dolls". Dwight Stones said, "She may look like she was just playing with her 'Barbies,' but she's the reigning National Champ." In 2019, Ostrander wrote, "This year, the commentators found it necessary to state (incorrectly I might add) my height and weight multiple times. Not only were these comments objectifying and unnecessary, they drew attention away from the real focus of the event. People attend this event and listen to the commentary because they want to see what we're capable of, not what we look like we're capable of. So why do the commentators insist on providing information that has nothing to do with the sport? In a sport where eating disorders and body dysmorphia are so common, the media has an opportunity to help women (and men) feel capable and powerful and worthy, but by focusing on appearance and body proportions, this opportunity is missed." ESPN subsequently responded with a statement regarding the comments in question, saying: "We greatly appreciate Allie bringing this important conversation to light. Commentary about height & weight was not broadcast on ESPN."

References

External links

• 2017 Mt. Marathon win and interview
• Allie Ostrander at www.USATF.org