NCAA Championships Update

Action is underway at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Division I, II, and III.

While D2 and D3 teams and individuals are competing in their championships-proper, D1 programs are competing in one of two Preliminaries that will winnow the D1 entry lists down to a manageable number of the NCAA Division I Championships in Eugene, Ore. in two weeks.

Here are the highlights from yesterday's action ...

Division I -- Gopher all-American Megan Duwell qualified for the finals of the women's 10,000-meter run with a 4th-place finish at the D1 West Preliminary in hot-and-sticky Austin, Texas. Duwell clocked 34:31.94 in the effort.

In the Minnesotan-packed men's 1500m heats, Wisconsin's Rob Finnerty topped the locals by qualifying for Saturday's quarterfinals as the #7 seed with 3:44.10. Jonathan Stublaski of Oklahoma State and formerly of Henry Sibley High School joins the Burnsville-bred Finnerty in the quarters with a #9-qualifying 3:45.00. Gopher Ben Blankenship advanced as well with an 18th-seeded 3:44.43, but teammate Andy Richardson did not, running 3:49.86 for 30th in the field.

Find complete D1 West Preliminary results HERE.

Find the Gopher women's Day 1 wrap-up HERE.

Find the Gopher men's wrap-up HERE.

Division II -- Bemidji State's Zac Preble will begin Day 2 of decathlon action in second place. Preble amassed 3748 in the event's opening five contests. He's within 100 points of leader Darius Walker of Central Missouri heading into today's final day of competition.

Qualifying with high seeds yesterday for finals competition today and tomorrow were:

Brittany Henderson of Minnesota State, Mankato the #2 qualifier in the women's 100m

Kelly Shaw of Winona State and Kristi Buerkle of Bemidji State, the #2 and #3 advancers in the women's 400m

Michelle SanCartier of Minnesota-Duluth, the #5 seed in the 1500m.

Find complete D2 results HERE.

Division III -- Marie Borner's quest to defend her D3 outdoor 1500m title got off to a smooth start yesterday. The Bethel University senior clocked 4:33.71 to advance to Saturday's final as the fastest qualifier.

This afternoon, Borner will begin competition in the 800m, where she is the #1-seed.

Complete D3 results can be found HERE.