Marblehead High graduate Shalane Flanagan will try to add to her Olympic medal collection Friday when she competes in the finals of the 5,000 meters.The former Marblehead High and University of North Carolina track star earned a spot in the finals by placing sixth in her qualifying heat Tuesday. Flanagan ran a season-best 14:59.69 and was one of three Americans to qualify. The other two are Jennifer Rhines, who finished sixth in her heat with a time of 15:15.12, and Kara Goucher, who ran a 15:00.98.”(The pace) was hard,” Flanagan said. “Everyone was saying, ‘You don’t want to go this fast, you don’t want to go this fast.’ But when you’re in the race, you can’t get into those mind games, so I just gave it everything I had ? I’ve got to figure out how to run a little bit of a smoother race.”Flanagan was happy to see two other American runners make the cut.”How about that?” she said. “I really like that a lot. It has a good ring to it. It just shows how hard we are working. We’ve got good coaches, a good support system.”Flanagan didn’t take any chances, a strategy that is reflected in her time.”I always want to make sure I’m in that top six,” she said. “I just fought it a little bit harder just to make sure I was in there. You never know what can happen.”This is Flanagan’s second Olympics. She left without any hardware from Athens in 2004, but she made sure she won’t be returning home empty-handed this time around. She already has a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters. That race was held last Friday.Flanagan’s time of 30:22.22 in the 10,000 not only won her a medal, but it established an American record and made her the first American to win a medal in the event since Lynn Jennings in 1992. The feat was even more impressive given the fact she had battled a severe gastrointestinal episode earlier in the week and was still feeling its effects.