MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Senior Will Kelly of the St. Olaf College men's track and field team qualified for the finals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with the second-fastest time in the prelims at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday evening at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium.

In his second consecutive appearance at the national meet in the event, Kelly clocked in in 8:58.71 to earn an automatic-qualifying spot (top four in each heat) into the finals, which will be run on Friday, May 24 at 6:15 p.m. CDT. In the faster of the two heats, Kelly was second to Walter Moak of Oberlin College, who posted the top time out of the 22 competitors in 8:57.92.

After a slower-paced initial heat, the bubble time to secure an automatic-qualifying spot into the finals was 9:08.59, which was outpaced by six runners in the second heat. Kelly was in the top four at each of the seven 400-meter laps after the initial 200-meter split to advance to the finals. The senior, who held the No. 6 seed time entering the meet, led the field at the 1,800-meter and 2,200-meter splits.

All 22 of the national qualifiers in the event entered the meet with sub-9:00 seed times, but temperatures in the upper 70s, humidity upwards of 80 percent, plus a 24-hour turnaround from prelims to the finals, led to a slower pace than the seed times.

With All-America honors already secured, Kelly will look to improve on last season's 10th-place finish in the finals on Friday evening. The top-eight finishers will earn First Team All-America status, with finishers 9-16 landing Second Team All-America status.
Kelly will look to improve on last season's 10th-place finish and will aim to become St. Olaf's sixth All-American in the event in the finals on Friday evening. He is the third Ole to qualify to be a multiple-time national qualifier in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.