Eric van der Els and Dan Schaffer finished 4th and 5th at the Payton Jordan Invitational last weekend on the campus of Stanford University.
Eric and Dan stopped the clock within 9/100th’s of a second of each other, both running 13:37. For both, it was the 2nd fastest 5k they’ve every run, just 1 second outside their PR of 13:36, which was also run in the same race 2 years ago.
For Dan, it was his first 5k of 2024 and was a return to form after having a few sub-par races to conclude his winter season. Dan opened up his outdoor campaign with a 3:42 1500m race at the Duke Invitational, 2 seconds faster than a year ago. And now has run his first 5k by narrowly missing a personal best. Dan’s racing in April gives him strong momentum moving into May where he’ll be eyeing the Olympic Trials marks of 13:25 and 3:37.
Eric is building his own momentum heading into key races next month. He has run a personal best of 3:41 at 1500m already this outdoor season and run the 2nd and 3rd fastest outdoor track marks of his life in his last 2 races. Coming off a year of injury in 2023, Eric is building momentum through races as he targets those 13:25 and 3:37 marks.
You can find full results from the Payton Jordan Invite here. Next up for Dan & Eric will be either a 1500m or 5000m at the Sound Running Track Fest on May 11th.