John Crumpacker, Chronicle Sports Writer

For her first outdoor track race of the season, San Francisco Olympian Shannon Rowbury decided to step out of her comfort zone and into the relative unknown of the 5,000 meters.

She'll tour the track at Cal's Edwards Stadium 12 1/2 times tonight in the distance carnival section of the Brutus Hamilton Invitational. Rowbury's best time in the 5,000 came in 2006 when she was at Duke and ran 15 minutes, 38.42 seconds.

Tonight under temporary lights, she'll try to crack 15:10 and attain the IAAF 'A' qualifying time for this summer's World Championships, even though she intends to run the metric mile in Berlin.

Rowbury advanced to....