King Advances in Steeplechase at NCAA Championships

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June 12, 2014

EUGENE, Ore. – Virginia sophomore Kyle King (Yorktown, Va.) advanced to the finals of the men’s 3000m steeplechase during the second day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. King was one of 12 athletes to advance to Saturday’s final of the event.

King used a late kick down the final straightaway to cross in a time of 8:43.99 for fourth place in heat 1 of the men’s 3000m steeplechase. The top five in each heat automatically qualified for the final, along with the next two best times. King’s time was the fourth-best overall time in the semifinal round.

“Kyle handled the race perfectly,” said assistant coach Pete Watson. “He went out strong, stayed out of trouble and had good water jumps. He knew he needed to be in the top five and never got himself out of contention and finished strong. I know he was nervous since it was his first NCAA Championships, but he handled it well and this will give him a lot of confidence heading into Saturday.”

Also competing on Thursday was Jen Flack (Alexandria, Va.) in the women’s 10000m. After setting the UVa freshman record in the event in the NCAA East Preliminaries to advance to Eugene, she finished 23rd in the final with a time of 35:22.42.

The Cavalier men, who scored two points on Wednesday with a seventh place finish in the shot put by Filip Mihaljevic (Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina) are in a tie for 25th place of the team scoring after Thursday’s events.

The meet will run through Saturday at Hayward Field. Virginia will have two competitors in field events on Friday. Dallas Rose (Pearland, Texas) will compete in the women’s triple jump, beginning at 6:25 p.m. ET. Mihaljevic will return to action with the men’s discus, which begins at 7:00 p.m. ET. Coverage of Friday’s events begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.