Races to Second in Heat for Chance to Earn Fourth All-America Honor
SACRAMENTO, CA - William and Mary's three-time All-American Ed Moran (Dayton, NJ) will have a shot for his fourth All-America accolade as the graduate student finished second in his heat Wednesday evening to advance to Saturday's 5,000m finals at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Hosted by Sacramento State at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex, the NCAA 5,000m was divided into two 13-athlete sections with the top-six finishers from each section automatically advancing to the finals and four additional at-large qualifications available on time.Moran, seeded seventh into the field with a personal record 13:39.70, kept pace with the lead pack and earned a hard-fought qualification into Saturday's finals as the top seven in his heat (for six qualification spots) all finished within eight-tenths of a second of each other. With runners saving their reserves for the finals, the winning time of 14:21.04 was not spectacular, but Moran assured himself of a finals qualification with a strategically-paced 14:21.35, good enough for second place in the heat. The performance seeds Moran fourth into Saturday's finals as results from each section are combined. Advancing to the 5,000m finals for his second-consecutive NCAA appearance (the last coming in 2003 with a medical redshirt in 2004), Moran will aim to improve upon his fifth-place performance in the event two years ago which earned him his third-career All-America honor, and first in track and field.
Fellow All-American Christo Landry (Falls Church, VA) made a strong debut in his first NCAA appearance as the freshman clocked a solid 14:08.76 to finish 12th in his heat and 18th in the combined standings, only two positions off the final at-large transfer spot. Landry had entered the Championship seeded 25th.
The 5,000m finals are scheduled 7:50 p.m. local time (10:50 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday, June 11.