Stack Finishes 4th in NCAA 10,000m

Mankato Loyola graduate Dani Stack finished 4th in last night's 10,000-meter event at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. The Iowa State sophomore clocked 34:32.28, earning her first All-American honors.

Juliet Bottorff of Duke won the event in 34:25.86.

"I'm so happy with fourth," Stack said in an Iowa State media release. "It's been my goal all season to finish in the top-five at NCAAs and I accomplished that tonight and it makes me want to go out and see what more I can achieve."

According to THIS race recap, Stack (pictured) was in the lead with 600m to run.

“I’ve been known not to have a great kick at the end of races,” Stack says in the story. “I didn’t win, but I think there are other NCAA titles out there."

At Mankato Loyola, Stack's high school high-water mark was a pair of 4th-place finishes as a senior at the 2008 MSHSL Class A State Championships in the 1600m and 3200m runs.

Gopher Action ... No Minnesota Gophers found their way to the podium in yesterday's NCAA action. Harun Abda finished 12th in the prelims of the 800m in 1:47.66, but did not advance to finals. Teammate Brock Spandl finished 23rd in the pole vault at 16-4 3/4.

Nikki Tzanakis finished 14th in the women's discus with a mark of 166-8. Todea-Kay Willis was 16th in the long jump at 20-3 3/4.

The Gopher women's 4 x 100m of Willis, Nyoka Giles, Chimerem Okoroji, and Alena Brooks -- the first Gopher women's 4 x 100 to qualify for NCAAs -- ran 44.85, to finish an non-advancing 21st in the semi-finals of the event.

Find complete NCAA results HERE.

Photo courtesy of Iowa State University.