THE RUNDOWN
During the final weekend to submit marks for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track National Championships, the DBU Men's Track team traveled to Cleveland, Tennessee, with the hopes of running their fastest times of the year. Last year's Last Chance Qualifier hosted at Lee University was one of the fastest in the nation, pulling multiple athletes into the national ranks.

Jared Gilley was first on the track for DBU running in his main event, the 800m. Of all the men on the trip, Gilley was in a pressure spot to deliver if he wanted to make the national field. Though he qualified for the Indoor National Meet in March, his times in the outdoor season were not fast enough to get him back. To make things more difficult, Gilley was placed in heat two, missing the best competition at the meet and a pacer to guide the competition to nationally relevant times.

However, though the first heat was filled with multiple athletes holding personal bests under 1:50, none of them broke that barrier, even with the pacer. Gilley's heat had slower athletes on paper, but that did not stop him from capitalizing on his opportunity.

Through 400m, Gilley was positioned in the back of the field, but his 54.2s split was right where he wanted to be. With 300m to go, multiple runners in front of Gilley attempted to make their moves by widening out into lane two, which gave Gilley the inside track he needed to blaze by. Suddenly, with 200m to go, Gilley was in a prime spot to challenge for first place. Down the final 100m, his closing speed was enough to secure second place and a personal-best time of 1:49.24. Not only is Gilley's mark a DBU school record, but it moves him up the national ladder to 17th place.

After Gilley's race, the weather began to shift, making for poor racing conditions. The temperatures stayed high, and the humidity steadily rose, even leading to rain for portions of the day. In that climate, the rest of the men raced below their expectations. Angel Luera finished his collegiate career with a 4:02.84 in the 1500m, followed by Adam Whitehead racing a 15:09.58 in the 5000m. Noah Metzger dropped from his 5000m attempt as did Jeb Williamson in the 10000m. Logan Moffitt raced the 800m in heat five, finishing his season with a 1:56.39.

Though the back half of the meet was slow across the board, DBU has a chance to send two athletes to the national meet. Gilley's 800m time is in a prime spot to make the field, as is Noah Metzger's 5000m mark from the OSU High Performance Meet, currently ranked 20th in the nation. The national field lists will be released in the next few days, but in the meantime, they will wait patiently for their names to be called.

DBU HEAD COACH JACOB PHILLIPS ON LEADING UP TO NATIONALS
"We've had a great track season and I can't wait for Nationals in two weeks, but this last chance meet gave a group of our athletes one last opportunity to punch their tickets to nationals! A few of them got the job done and moved up some spots, while the rest of the team really gained some experience that we're going to need next year!\."

DBU ASSISTANT COACH ANDREW PRICE ON THE LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER
"I knew Jared Gilley could run a national qualifying time even though he hasn't yet this outdoor season. I'm really proud that he didn't let his confidence waver and trusted his training. He did what he had to do, and we will be ready for another crack at the NCAA championships in two weeks."