Darren Fahy of Georgetown moves on to the 3,000-meter Steeplechase Finals.
#BIGEASTtrack Minute: NCAA Outdoor Championships Day 1 Recap
EUGENE, Ore. – Two BIG EAST runners, Villanova’s Jordan Williamsz and Georgetown’s Darren Fahy, qualified for the NCAA finals after the first day of competition at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The four-day meet, held at historic Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon, is being broadcast live in its entirety on the ESPN family of networks.Williamsz and Fahy will compete in their respective final events on Friday. Thursday night will feature the women’s semifinal and the women’s final of the 10,000-meter run.
For a full list of Wednesday’s results, click here (PDF).
In the men’s 1,500-meter semifinals, Villanova’s Williamsz finished sixth overall with a qualifying finish of 3:41.16. Williamsz finished sixth in his heat by less than half a second. The top five finishers in each heat, plus the next two fastest times advance to the finals, Williamsz was one of the latter. Williamsz has finished fifth in the 1,500 meters at the NCAA Championships in each of the last two seasons. His time of 3:41.16 marks the seventh time he has run a sub-four minute mile or the metric equivalent during his collegiate career; he has accomplished the feat additional times outside of the official collegiate season. Teammate Ben Malone was also in the 1,500-meter semis. Malone finished 17th overall with a time of 3:49.54. He was tied with Oregon’s Ben Haney, but was .00007 seconds behind. He finished seventh in the first heat of the race.
In 3,000-meter steeplechase, Georgetown’s Fahy advanced to Friday’s finals for the second-consecutive year. Fahy finished fourth overall and second in his heat with a qualifying time of 8:36.24. Fahy ran as part of the lead pack for the entirety of the race and pulled into second place following a jump on the back end heading into the straight-away. Providence’s Jordan Mann finished 16th overall with a time of 8:48.05; while Hoya Scott Carpenter finished a few tenths of a second at 8:48.19.
Georgetown’s Joseph White was the BIG EAST’s lone competitor in the 800-meter semifinals. While White finished fourth in his heat with a new personal best time of 1:46.66, it was not enough as he was edged out of a time qualifier spot from the faster first heat.
The final event on Wednesday was the 10,000-meter run which featured Butler’s Erik Peterson and Georgetown’s Jonathan Green. The 10K run was the only final event run on Wednesday night. Peterson crossed the line at 29:23.48 finishing in eighth place. Green finished 19th overall with a time of 29:44.42. Edward Cheserek of Oregon defended his NCAA title on his home track in Eugene, holding off Northern Arizona's Futsum Zienasellassie. Cheserek finished with a time of 29:09.57, one second ahead of the runner-up.
See below for Thursday's schedule.
Thursday, June 9 – NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Schedule
Women’s 1,500-meter run -- Semifinal: Thursday, June 9 at 7:46 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Stephanie Van Pelt, St. John’s (4:15.68 – 5th)
Andrea Keklak, Georgetown (4:19.35 – 17th)
Women’s 3,000-meter Steeplechase -- Semifinal: Thursday, June 9 at 8:02 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Brianna Ilarda, Providence (10:00.12 – 11th)
Women’s Women’s 800-meter run -- Semifinal: Thursday, June 9 at 9:14 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Emma Keenan, Georgetown (2:03.33 – 3rd)
Siofra Cleirigh Buttner, Villanova (2:03.72 – 5th)
Sabrina Southerland, Georgetown (2:03.74 – 6th)
Sarah Schmidt, Georgetown (2:03.78 – 7th)
Claire Mooney, St. John’s (2:05.13 – 13th)
Women’s *10,000-meter run -- Final Only: Thursday, June 9 at 10:08 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Olivia Pratt, Butler (34:26.30 – 16th)
2016 Outdoor Track & Field Championship Central
Women’s Entry List | Men’s Entry List | Team Scores