BOSTON (April 20, 2022) – Former Oklahoma Christian cross country and track runners Layne Hammer and Sarah Zorsky competed Monday in the prestigious Boston Marathon.
Now living in Oklahoma City and working at Tinker Air Force Base as an electronics engineer, the 27-year-old Hammer won the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon last October with a time of 2:54.38. On a much tougher Boston course, she improved her time, covering the 26.2 miles in 2:53.61, a 6:38-per-mile pace. She finished 102nd overall in the women's division.
Hammer, originally from Greeley, Colo., ran for OC from 2013 to 2018 and was named as Ms. Eagle – the university's highest athletic honor – in 2018. She still holds school records in the indoor mile (4:53.10), 3,000 meters (9:40.38) and 5,000 meters (16:59.48) and the outdoor 1,500 meters (4:32.20) and 5,000 meters (16:57.38).
In track and field at OC, she earned NCAA Division II All-America second-team honors in the indoor 5,000 in 2018 and twice was an All-South Central Region selection. In cross country, she won two individual races in 2015 and was a two-time All-Heartland Conference first-team honoree, finishing second in the championship race in 2016. She also earned All-South Central Region cross country honors in 2016.
Zorsky, who's from Amarillo, Texas, and now lives in Draper, Utah, competed for OC from 2013 to 2017. Then known as Sarah Cobb, she was a two-time National Christian College Athletic Association Scholar-Athlete for the Eagles and earned U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete recognition in cross country in 2016.
Now 26, Zorsky finished the Boston Marathon in 3:28.35, a 7:58-per-mile pace, and finished 2,364th in the women's standings. More than 12,000 women competed in this year's Boston race, which has one of distance running's toughest qualification standards to meet to be allowed to enter.
"I am so thankful to share this special memory with (Layne) and also know she absolutely killed it today," Zorsky said on Facebook. "I'm very happy with my race today and proud to see that I am improving in such a long distance."
