Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsPrinceton senior Donn Cabral set an American College Record and ran better than the Olympic A qualifying standard as he won the steeplechase at the 2012 USATF Oxy High Performance Meet at Occidental College on Friday, May 18.
Cabral ran an amazing 8:19.14 as he outkicked the top American steeplechasers. He broke the American College Record mark of 8:19.27 set by Farley Gerber of Weber State in 1984.
"We sent Donn out to California to run against the best steeplechasers in the United States and he rose to the occasion, achieving Olympic A standard," Princeton head track & field coach Fred Samara said. "Now it's on to the trials where he's put himself in a tremendous position to make the Olympic team."
Cabral met the Olympic "A" qualifying standard of 8:23.10, which assures him the ability to go to the Olympic games, as it's a requirement in order to go the Olympics.
His time is also a Princeton and Ivy League record, crushing the previous mark of 8:29.01 set in 1985 by Michael Fadil of Dartmouth.
Cabral faced the top American steeplers including Evan Jager and 2011 World Championship team members Dan Huling and Billy Nelson.
Cabral moved into third with three laps to go, behind Jager and Huling. Jager fell on the final water barrier as Cabral moved into second place. Cabral handled the last barrier with ease as he got in front of Huling and blazed to the finish in his bright orange kicks.
LetsRun.com reported that Cabral had this to say after the race "On the plane ride here, I had motivational speakers on my left and right and they got me really pumped up. They gave me a lot of good information. It really was the power of positive thinkimg is what they hashed into me for 6 hours and I used that today," said Cabral. "I was pretty confident coming in. I knew I had the fitness. I had more than an inkling that 8:32 was going to be way behind me."
"(When I saw that Jager fell, I thought,) 'Oh, that kind of sucks.' I kind of wanted to race him fair and square."
Watch more video of 2012 USATF Oxy High Performance Meet on flotrack.org
Watch more video of 2012 USATF Oxy High Performance Meet on flotrack.org
Results
1 Donn Cabral Princeton 8:19.14
2 Dan Huling Reebok 8:20.81
3 Kyle Alcorn Nike 8:20.86
4 Evan Jager Nike O T C 8:20.90
5 David Adams Unattached 8:27.77
6 Donald Cowart Ragged Mt Racing 8:30.14
7 Lyle Weese Unattached 8:30.83
8 Chris Winter Speed River TC 8:31.25
9 Rob Mullett UK Athletics 8:31.62
10 Billy Nelson New Balance 8:34.10
11 Brian Olinger Reebok 8:35.48
12 Matt Hughes Unattached 8:44.42
13 Steve Slattery Unattached 8:51.70
