NAPERVILLE, ILL. — After winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Gregory Invitational Thursday night, Central College men's track and field runner Mark Fairley (junior, Dubuque) will have to wait and see if his time earns him a spot at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

In order to qualify for the national meet, individuals need to be in the top-20 nationally in their event. Fairley entered the day at No. 28. Running in the 16-man second heat, Fairley improved his time by nearly five seconds and won the event in 9 minutes, 12.07 seconds. That time is just .48 second off his school record time in the event.
Fairley moved into the top-20 nationally, slotting in at No. 19 with results from other last chance meets still pending.

"Mark was the highlight," coach Joe Dunham said. "We feel pretty good about getting him in. We will have to wait and see. There are a few more meets around the country tonight. We should know by tomorrow."

Jon Specht (junior, Dubuque, Hempstead HS) clocked in at 1:55.76 in the 800-meter dash, finishing 10th overall. He won the third heat as he set a new PR. Kyle Pape (sophomore, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) was 12th in 1:56.62

Tanner Rathje (junior, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) took 28th in the 1,500-meter run in 4:11.43.
           
"They all competed really well today," Dunham said. "They ran their races the way I was hoping they would. They were aggressive and put themselves in position to run fast."