Sydney Thorvaldson breaks Arkansas 5,000m record

AZUSA, California – Razorback junior distance runner Sydney Thorvaldson broke the Arkansas 5,000m school record with a time of 15 minutes, 25.07 seconds racing at the Bryan Clay Invitational this weekend.

Thorvaldson, who had a previous best of 15:41.58 from last season, bettered the UA record of 15:25.10 set by Dominique Scott in 2016 while improving by 16.5 seconds. In 2022, Razorback Lauren Gregory came with 0.07 of Scott’s record while placing eighth at the Mt. SAC Relays in California.

Clipping the Arkansas school record by 0.03 of a second placed Thorvaldson 11th in the first section of the Invite 5,000m at the Bryan Clay Invitational. Alabama’s Hilda Olemomoi won the race in 15:06.42 over professional Abbey Cooper (15:11.15).

Thorvaldson was the fourth best collegian in the race behind Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz (15:15.84) and Colorado’s Bailey Hertenstein (15:18.80) while finishing ahead of Texas Tech’s Juliet Cherubet (15:25.71). This group of collegians placed 1-6-8-11-12 in the race.

For the 2024 season, Thorvaldson currently ranks sixth in the 5,000m and is second best in the SEC behind Olemomoi.

Earlier this outdoor season Thorvaldson set a career best in the 10,000m with a time of 32:36.47 at Stanford, which ranks No. 5 on the UA all-time list and is currently fifth best among collegians this season and third best in the SEC.

Thorvaldson ranks among the Arkansas top 10 in three events, with the other being the indoor 5,000m where her 15:42.45 from this season ranks No. 3 among Razorbacks.