Tania resets NMI 5,000m record, PB

It’s just a little over two weeks since track star Tania Tan reset the NMI 10,000m record and she broke yet another record and her personal best in the NMI 5,000m with her time of 18:03.36 at the Oregon State High Performance Track and Field Meet last Saturday.

The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa graduate student held the NMI record already during her record-breaking performance in the 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands with her time of 18:08.69—which also gave her the gold medal. She shaved more than 5 seconds from that time last Saturday.

This was her penultimate meet in her last NCAA season and placed 17th overall.

This time around, she said the meet was tough. “The conditions weren’t the best; it was cold, gloomy, rainy, and windy.”

She was going for a PR and wanted to break 18 minutes but fell short of her goal. However, she can’t be mad at herself as “it was still a good race and I gave it my best!” said Tan.

In her last meet coming up, she’ll run the 10,000m at the Big West Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She hopes to score some points for her team—the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Rainbow Wahine and maybe that will come with another PR and record.

With one year almost down in her two-year graduate program, she wraps up her last year of eligibility in the NCAA this season.

She said, “As my NCAA season ends, it’s a bittersweet feeling but I know I’m not done yet. I’m really looking forward to competing in the Oceania Champs and Micro Games in June! It’ll be nice to compete in the Pacific islands again.”

Last April 12-13, she competed in the Bryan Clay Invitational held last April 12-13 in Azusa, California and broke her PR and NMI 10,000m record with a time of 36:48.49.