EUGENE, Ore. — Thursday evening in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field, senior Kayley DeLay advanced from her heat in the 3000m Steeplechase semifinal, earning a spot in Saturday's final. DeLay finished sixth in her heat, with a time of 9:43.86.
The race was one of the more technical and tactical races DeLay has experienced this season. Throughout the year she competed in many of her races far in front of her other competitors, but on Thursday night DeLay was accompanied by many athletes for the entirety of the race. In addition, Alissa Niggemann from Wisconsin tripped over one of the barriers, forcing DeLay to break her stride and maneuver around the fallen athlete. Luckily this change in stride did not seem to faze DeLay for the remainder of the race.
Furthermore, Joyce Kimeli from Auburn dictated a lot of the pace changes throughout the race, accelerating the pace and then suddenly slowing it down. Despite all these factors, DeLay managed to stick with the lead pack into the final lap, and found a final surge down the last straightaway to secure her spot into Saturday's final.
DeLay heads into Saturday's final ranked 10th overall from Thursday's semifinal results. In order for her to earn first team All-American, she must finish top eight in Saturday's final.
The 3000m Steeplechase final is scheduled to go off at 2:54 p.m. Pacific Time (5:54 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). Live results of the meet can be found at ncaa.com. Live video of the steeplechase final on Saturday can be found on ESPN.
