Track: Benkovsky earns All-American honors with seventh-place finish in steeplechase
Olivet College senior Andrew Benkovsky has earned All-American honors with a seventh-place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2015 NCAA Division III National Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
CANTON, N.Y. – Olivet College senior Andrew Benkovsky has earned All-American honors with a seventh-place in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2015 NCAA Division III National Outdoor Track & Field Championships. With the performance, he is the first Comet student-athlete to be an All-American at the outdoor track and field national championships since 1984.
Benkovksy's time of 9:04.94 in the finals broke the school record by 42/100th of a second. He advanced to the finals after posting a time of 9:20.59 in the preliminaries on Thursday night. Dawson Miller from University of Wis.-Whitewater was the NCAA DIII national champion in the race with a time of 8:46.58.
"Consistency is king," said Benkovksy. "I ran a lot smarter race today than I did in the preliminaries. And then in the last 200 meters, I left it all out on the track.
"I want to thank my parents and brother for driving all the way to New York to watch me run. I also want to thank my coaches as well as my running partners, Greg (Lutzke) and Jalen (Weaver). If was not for them pushing me, I would not have been here today."
In addition, Benkovsky is the second Olivet track athlete to earn All-American honors this year. Fellow senior Jalen Weaver placed sixth in the 800-meter run at the 2015 NCAA DIII Indoor Track & Field Championships.
The championships took place at the Merrick-Pinkard Track & Field Complex in Canton, N.Y. St. Lawrence University served as the host school.
