Augustana University Athletics

FRIDAY RESULTS | DAY ONE RECAP

ALLENDALE, Mich. - In record-breaking fashion, Augustana's Kyle Blakeslee and Harald Karbo earned All-American honors on day two of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Both Vikings placed top-three in their respective 3,000-meter steeplechase races while setting new personal bests and Aduo Omot earned a spot in the men's 800-meter run final tomorrow.
 
Blakeslee entered the national meet with the second-fastest time of the 21 entrants and won her preliminary heat which brought her one step closer to the third All-American steeplechase finish of her career. Running behind two-time defending champion Alicia Nelson of Adams State, Blakeslee wasn't able to record her first individual national title, but she still registered her highest finish at a national meet by taking second in 10:13.93 and broke a pair of her own records in the process.
 
"Kyle's performance was the highlight of the weekend so far for our program," head coach Tracy Hellman said after his senior's runner-up finish. "Not only did she run a personal best, but she set a school record and South Dakota collegiate record. She has been one of the best steeplechasers we have ever had and it was great to see her end her steeplechase career with a personal best."
 
The Cannon Falls, Minn. native had finished fourth in the national steeplechase in 2011 and 2012 before she clocked the fastest Augustana women's time ever in the event. By breaking her own school record set in 2012 at the Drake Relays, Blakeslee also broke the South Dakota collegiate record and ran the sixth-fastest time in Division II history. ASU's Nelson won the event by breaking the NCAA Championship meet record with a time of 9:54.02.
 
Karbo's performance nearly equaled his teammate's as he took third in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase for his first outdoor All-American honor. Karbo's late kick couldn't quite chase down a runner-up finish, but he did set a new personal-best by 10 seconds with his third-place time of 8:50.21.
 
"Harald really ran a tough race," Hellman said. "But, he was able to sustain the fast, easy pace for his best finish and personal best. He really had a breakthrough sophomore campaign and the future is bright for him."
 
Karbo earned a spot in last season's NCAA Championship steeplechase finals, but the Stord, Norway native missed out on his first All-American finish by three places. In all three seasons, Karbo earned All-American honors. Karbo placed 19th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships and helped the men's distance medley relay team to a sixth-place finish at the indoor championships before earning his third All-American honors of his sophomore season on Friday night. Adams State's Tabor Stevens repeated as steeplechase champion with an NCAA Championship record time of 8:35.05 and Karbo was edged by Colorado School of Mines' Tyler Curtis who took second in 8:49.22.
 
Seeking the fourth outdoor All-American finish of his storied career, Omot snuck into the men's 800-meter finals by the narrowest of margins. Running in the first heat, the Worthington, Minn. native finished fifth with a time of 1:51.57.  With the top two winners of each heat automatically advancing to the event finals tomorrow afternoon, Omot was left waiting for the last two heats to finish before he could see his time would advance him to the finals by 0.03 seconds.
 
"Aduo did a great job qualifying for the finals on Saturday," Hellman said of OMot, one of four Augustana seniors still in competition. "He is a veteran of championship races and I know he will finish his career on a high note."
 
Another close finish in the final event of day two wouldn't swing in favor of the Vikings as the women's 4x400-meter relay team finished two spots out of qualifying for the finals. With a time of 3:45.42, Carina Hofmeister, Anne Parsley, Colleen Everson, and Kayla Mescher were 0.39 seconds from advancing to the Saturday-night finals and their record-breaking season ended in an 11th-place finish at the national meet.
 
"The women's 4x4 team ran a solid race, but came up just short," Hellman said, sending off senior Everson in her first outdoor national appearance. "What I was most proud of was the fact that they came here and showed that they belonged and placed higher than they were seeded.
 
"A huge congrats is in order for [assistantcoach] Greg Binstock as he has really reshaped our sprint program and has them competing at a very high level. It will be exciting to see what they can do in another national meet experience."
 
Augustana concludes their trip to the 2014 NCAA Championships with four athletes in competition on the final day. Henrik Hansson and Kristin Brondbo will race in the men's and women's 1,500-meter finals, respectively, and Omot will run in the men's 800-meter final. In the final race of the Vikings' season, Brondbo and Blakeslee compete in the women's 5,000-meter run as the final race of each of their careers.