McDougal Concludes Busy Weekend with 7:57 3K
Posted December 2nd, 2007 at 10:28 PM by Martin Kennedy
Section: News & Results, Track & Field
Liberty University senior Josh McDougal, seeking a second NCAA automatic qualifier in as many days at the Liberty Kickoff, fell just short on Sunday afternoon at the Tolsma Indoor Track Center. However, his official time of 7:57.90 set a facility record and earned provisional qualification to the national meet.
The race, which wrapped up the three-day, season-opening meet in Lynchburg, Va., was McDougal’s (Peru, N.Y.) third in the last two weeks. The stretch began with his NCAA National Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 19 and also included a 13:45.16 5K performance on Saturday.
The 3K field included just two entrants, McDougal and Liberty student Sam Chelanga, who placed second in Saturday’s 5K. McDougal pushed the pace from the very beginning, with Chelanga in tow, and the duo clocked 2:34 for the opening kilometer. McDougal then started to break away from Chelanga just before the mile mark, which the senior crossed in 4:10.
From that point on, it was a race against the clock, as McDougal chased the 7:55.80 automatic qualifying standard. He went through 2K in 5:15, before stopping the clock in 7:57.90, three-tenths of a second faster than the facility record he set last season. The mark was the fifth Tolsma Indoor Track Center record set this weekend and the second by 12-time All-American McDougal.
Chelanga, a two-time All-American, earned his second runner-up finish of the meet, finishing in 8:11.09.
Liberty will resume the 2007-08 indoor track & field season on Jan. 11, at the Virginia Tech Invitational. The two-day meet will be held at Rector Field House in Blacksburg, Va.
Photograph: Josh McDougal on his way to setting a new Tolsma Indoor Track Center record last Sunday (Courtesy of Liberty University Athletics).
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Tags: 3 k, 3k, blacksburg, course record, indoor record, indoor track & field, Josh McDougal, liberty flames, liberty university, NCAA automatic qualifier, NCAA National Cross Country Championship, rector field house, sam chelanga, tolsma indoor track center, Virginia, virginia tech invitational
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