Syracuse runs on.

Three members of SU’s track and field team qualified for the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships after their performances from Thursday to Saturday at the NCAA East Preliminaries at the Irwin Belk Track inside of Aggie Stadium on the campus of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C.

Fifth-year senior Lauren Penney, sophomore Donald Pollitt and freshman Brianna Nerud will represent the Orange in the national competition in Eugene, Ore., from June 5-8.

Pollitt and Nerud will be making their first appearances at the NCAA Championships but for Penney, it’s nothing new.

As a freshman, Penney was part of the first women’s cross country team in SU program history to run in the 2008 NCAA Championship, claiming 145th in 21:49 in the 6k.

Now as a school record-holder in four different races, Penney has advanced to the NCAA Championship 5000-meter race for the second consecutive year. The graduate student, who holds the school record in the 5,000-m race (15:56.80), qualified for nationals after finishing second in her heat and fourth overall in the preliminary round with a time of 16:11.14.

In the 2012 outdoor season, Penney reached the NCAA Championships, while finishing in 22nd place in the 5,000-meter run. This past fall indoor season, Penney reached the NCAA Championships for the 3,000-meter run. She finished 12th in that race.

Pollitt will compete in the 110-meter hurdles.

His time of 13.68 seconds in the semifinals qualified him for nationals and gave him the sixth-best overall time at the regional competition.

Nerud will compete in the 3000-meter steeplechase after finishing fourth overall in the event on Friday with a time of 10:03.18.

Last July, Nerud broke the national high school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain, with a time of 10:00.72 as a member of Team USA.

For complete coverage of the NCAA Championships including live results check out the Men and Women’s Track and Field (Outdoor) tabs on NCAA.com.

Published on May 28, 2013 at 5:43 pm

Contact Bryan: bwrubin@syr.edu