Junior Ian McVey earns All-American honors in 5,000-meter run to lead Ohio Northern on Day 1 of 2018 NCAA III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships
By Tim Glon
| NCAA III Championships Site |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Junior Ian McVey (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) earned All-America honors with a fifth place finish in the 5,000-meter run to lead Ohio Northern on the first day of the NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at the Birmingham Cross Plex.
McVey rallied on the final lap, passing four runners to improve from ninth to fifth place, and finished in 14:34.21.
This is his first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. He was seeded 15th with a school record time of 15:31.11.
McVey was an All-American in men's cross country, finishing 10th at the 2017 Championships, running the 8,000-meter course in 24:37.
"It felt great," McVey said. "I knew I had some gound to make up. I had the hammer on the final lap. I have no idea where it came from, but it was awesome."
Senior Matt Molinaro (Sterling Heights, Mich./DeLaSalle) won his heat of the 800 in 1:51.96 and will be the top seed in the finals on Saturday at 3:40 pm (CST).
He is a 3-time All-American in the 800, earning the honors twice indoors and once outdoors. He was the top seed entering the event with a qualifying time of 1:50.14.
"We enter every championships meet hoping everything goes perfect," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "It never goes perfect, but today was a very good day. Ian was outstandinng - he made the 5k a race, rather than a time trial. He put himself in a position to be in the top eight with a lap to go and got it done. Matt was strong in his prelim and is right where we want him to be going into the finals on Saturday."
