EUGENE, ORE. -- Junior distance runner Clay Schwabe put the finishing touches on his spring campaign Saturday by earning All-America honors in the 1500-meter run following an eighth place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

Schwabe bettered his preliminary qualifying time by just over two seconds, clocking a time of 3 minutes, 41.79 seconds in the 12-man championship race. He was the sixth American to cross (the first eight earn All-American status) and eighth runner overall.

This is the fourth time in his career he has qualified for the NCAA competition, competing both indoors and outdoors twice. The first Army runner named an All-American in the 1500-meter run, Schwabe is the first Black Knight to earn that status outdoors since Dan Brown (4th in the 10,000-meter run) and Jon Pontius (12th in the decathlon) earned similar recognition at the NCAA Championships in 1997.

The 12-man championship race was comprised of the first four runners in two preliminary heats plus the next four fastest qualifiers. Schwabe, who finished fifth in his preliminary heat, advanced to the championship finals by virtue of owning the fastest time among the remaining runners.

Eliud Njubi of Texas Christian University edged Schwabe, who was 1.78 seconds off the school record, for the seventh spot with his clocking of 3:40.31.

Colorado State’s Bryan Berryhill, the favorite to win the 1500-meter run outdoors after capturing the NCAA crown indoors, did not disappoint. The senior bettered his preliminary time by more than four seconds with his winning time of 3:37.05 in edging defending champion Gabe Jennings, a junior from Stanford, by 0.51 seconds for the outdoor crown. Stanford had three runners place among the top five.

"It is a great honor for Clay, who is just a junior, and it is a great indicator of what he is capable of accomplishing next year," commented Army coach Jerry Quiller.

Championship Finals, 1500 Meter Run
1. Bryan Berryhill, Colo.ST. (3:37.05)
2. Gabe Jennings, Stanford (3:37.56)
3. David Kimani, Alabama (3:38.74)
4. Michael Stember, Stanford (3:39.15)
5. Don Sage, Stanford (3:39.27)
6. Joel Atwater, Weber State (3:39.40)
7. Eliud Njubi, TCU (3:40.31)
8. Clay Schwabe, Army (3:41.79)
9. Christian Goy, Illinois State (3:44.04)
10. Sean O’Brien, American University-DC (3:46.83)
11. Bashar Ibrahim, UTEP (3:47.37)
12. Adrian Blincoe, Villanova (3:50.28)