Carr takes fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase

EUGENE, Ore. – BYU junior Curtis Carr set a lifetime best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and finished fourth overall at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday.

"Curtis stayed toward the back of the second pack for most of the race and kept a great pace," BYU coach Mark Robison said. "With about 500 meters left he started to move up and then left everyone in that second pack behind on the first turn of the last lap. He's really been amazing on his finishes lately and today he didn't disappoint. He was fantastic. It was a really exciting race."

Carr finished with a time of 8:40.87 and was the top American finisher in the race. The native of Nashville, Ind., scored five points for BYU to give the Cougars 10 team points. BYU is now tied for 13th overall on the team score leaderboard.

It was a tight race for spots four through 10 as there was less than a 5-second difference between Carr and the 10th-place finisher. Fifth-place Dakota Peachee was just 2.17 seconds behind Carr and 10th-place Jared Bassett finished 4.49 seconds after Carr.

Coming into the 2013 season, Carr had only broken the 9-minute mark in the steeplechase twice in his career. He did not break the mark this season until May 10 at the IC4A Championships when he finished sixth with a time of 8:56.39. He showed continued improvement at the NCAA West Preliminary when he finished with a time of 8:41.70.

"Curtis has dealt with injuries all season so we were relieved he qualified for regionals," Robison said. "He only had one month of really good training but Ed (Eyestone) did a great job getting him ready and he finished the season really strong."

In addition to Carr, BYU’s point scorers this week were Victor Weirich in the pole vault (fifth place, four points) and Jared Ward in the 10,000-meters (8th place, one point).

"This was a really great meet for our team," Robison said. "We'll end up with several All-Americans and we saw our guys perform really well. It was really a great showing."

The United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association will announce All-America teams next week.

3,000-Meter Steeplechase Results

Day 2 recap

Day 1 recap