Entee Earns All American Status with 7th at NCAA 1500 FinalEmily Lipari Settles for 10th in Women's NCAA 1500 Final

Sam McEntee, 9th a year ago at these NCAA championship finals, improved to 7th this year and earned All-American status in the men's 1500 meters.  The race was a slow, tactical sit-and-kick race, with not much separating the field until the final strike for home (with 400 to go, all 12 runners were within 1.3 seconds of each other, with McEntee sitting in 11th place).  Oregon's Mac Fleet closed the final 400 (52.22) faster than anyone else to win the race, and took the title.  McEntee came home in 53.16 to move up four spots and finish in 7th. The top 8 men all finished within 1.15 seconds of each other.

Finals                                                                          
  1 Mac Fleet                 JR Oregon                 3:50.25   10            
  2 Zach Perkins              SO Air Force              3:50.39    8            
  3 Patrick Casey             SR Oklahoma               3:50.60    6            
  4 Austin Mudd               SO Wisconsin              3:50.84    5            
  5 Jeremy Rae                SR Notre Dame             3:51.07    4            
  6 Robby Creese              SO Penn State             3:51.21    3            
  7 Sam McEntee               SO Villanova              3:51.35    2            
  8 Andrew Bayer              SR Indiana                3:51.39    1            
  9 Ryan Hill                 SR NC State               3:52.06                 
 10 John Simons               JR Minnesota              3:54.25                 
 11 Riley Masters             SR Oklahoma               3:55.12                 
 12 Patrick McGregor          SR Texas                  4:19.82

In the women's race, Emily Lipari was competing in her first NCAA outdoor individual final. Like McEntee, Lipari hit the bell lap in 11th place -- about 1.4 seconds off the leader. However, Lipari's kick, which has served her so well in the past, was not in evidence and she got heavier as the leaders struck for home. Lipari's final 400 was covered in 1:07.59, only 10th fastest in the 12-women field (by comparison, the top 6 finishers all closed in 1:04.19 or better). As the results below show, she was well detached by the time the race was over.

Finals                                                                       
  1 Natalja Piliusina         JR Oklahoma State         4:13.25   10         
  2 Cory McGee                JR Florida                4:13.94    8         
  3 Amanda Mergaert           SR Utah                   4:14.30    6         
  4 Rebecca Tracy             SR Notre Dame             4:14.42    5         
  5 Amanda Eccleston          SR Michigan               4:14.56    4         
  6 Stephanie Brown           JR Arkansas               4:14.58    3         
  7 Shelby Houlihan           SO Arizona State          4:14.95    2         
  8 Amanda Winslow            SR Florida State          4:16.00    1         
  9 Linden Hall               SO Florida State          4:16.42              
 10 Emily Lipari              JR Villanova              4:18.68              
 11 Becca Friday              SR Oregon                 4:20.85              
 12 Anne Kesselring           SR Oregon                 4:28.17