Jacksonville, Fla. – Senior Hunter Christopher finished sixth in the 5,000m on Friday night at the Visit Jax Track at Hodges Stadium to earn a spot at the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.
Running in the events' semifinals, Christopher ran a perfect race to clock a time of 13:55.21 to place sixth overall. The top seven finishers of the event all came from the second heat, which included the Salem, Ohio, native. The winning time of first heat was 14:06.40, which Christopher beat by more than 11 seconds.
Needing a top-five finish for an automatic spot or a top-seven heat finish with a time under 14:10.79 to advance, Christopher put himself in position midway through the race to make a move.
Early on he was in the back of the pack before moving up into a top eight position. As the race went on, the three leaders built some separation on the field, but Christopher was in perfect position running in the top seven. The pace of the second heat was already ahead of the first race from the start.
In the final 200m, things heated up. The top three race leaders all finished under 13:40. Fourth place and fifth place came it at 13:53 and 13:54 and Christopher was just behind to earn one of the two non-automatic spots into the finals.
Christopher joins Tye Hunt (long jump) as Penguins who will be in Eugene starting on June 11 to represent the YSU men. He joins Sean Peterson as the only two distance runners to advance to Eugene in program history. He will be one of 24 competitors in the finals for the National Championship in the event as there is no preliminary race at Hayward Field.
Earlier in the day, Sage Vavro made his NCAA East Prelims debut with a strong performance in the steeplechase. Vavro ran a time of 9:08.17 to place a respectable 36th after placing 13th in the first heat.
Senior Luke Laubacher concluded his YSU career in the 110m hurdles quarterfinals. Laubacher finished with a time of 14.12 seconds in his race.
Closing out the prelim meet tomorrow will be Molly Radcliffe, who competes in the discus at 1 p.m. while Nia Williams-Matthews and Esther Solarin will be in action in the triple jump starting around 2:30 p.m.
