Hamilton, Schneider Earn First Team All-America Honors at NCAA Championships

Friday, June 10

Eugene, OR

7:24 p.m.

Montana State University

NCAA Outdoor Championships

Duncan Hamilton

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

Hamilton, Schneider Earn First Team All-America Honors at NCAA Championships

6/10/2022 10:23:00 PM | Men's Track and Field

Montana State’s Duncan Hamilton nearly claimed a national title while two other Bobcats were honored as All-Americans at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, June 10, at Hayward Field.

By: Andrew Pedersen

EUGENE, Ore. – Montana State's Duncan Hamilton nearly claimed a national title while two other Bobcats were honored as All-Americans at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday, June 10, at Hayward Field.

Hamilton and teammate Levi Taylor competed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase finals. Hamilton took the lead from the opening gun and led the field for the majority of the race. Two competitors in Eastern Kentucky's Ahmed Jaziri and Georgetown's Parker Stokes stuck with Hamilton as the last couple barriers remained on the final lap.

The three runners raced down the home stretch and the trio had a photo finish at the line. Jaziri would take the national championship honors as he came across in 8 minutes, 18.70 seconds. Hamilton crossed just two tenths of a second behind Jaziri, coming in at 8:18.88. The Bozeman native snagged the silver medal by just two one-hundredths of a seconds over Stokes as Hamilton recorded a 8:18.878, while Stokes clocked an 8:18.880.

Hamilton's time was the third fastest ever recorded by a collegiate runner. It trails only Jaziri and Washington State's Henry Rono's mark of 8:05.4 set in 1978. The mark also topped the Big Sky Conference's previous record mark of 8:19.27 set in 1974 by Farley Gerber of Weber State.

Hamilton, who had already set a mark to qualify him for the US Track and Field Championships, now has a standard that qualifies him for this summer's World Championships. Hamilton's silver medal performance is the second highest finish ever by a Bobcat tying Cristian Soratos' second-place showing in the 1,500 at the 2015 Championships. It only falls behind Shannon Butler's gold medal efforts he earned in 1990 and 1991.

Taylor added to the All-America accolades with a Second Team performance on Friday. The Laurel native nearly achieved First Team honors as he placed ninth overall behind a time of 8:33.37. The mark was Taylor's second fastest of his career.

Drake Schneider rounded out the Bobcats' finals appearances for the men's squad.

Schneider stuck with the contending pack and eventually finished less than one second behind national champion Sean Burrell of LSU. Schneider clocked a time of 49.75 seconds to take sixth overall. He's the sixth highest individual finisher ever for the Bobcat men and is the first male sprinter in program history to earn First Team All-America honors.

The Bobcat men's team closed out the NCAA Championships with three All-Americans, the most for the program at a single national meet in school history. The Bobcats' 11 points are the most ever by the program as Montana State tied for 25th overall in the team standings.

Lucy Corbett closes out MSU's appearance at the NCAA Championships on Saturday when she competes in the women's high jump. That competition begins at 3 p.m. MT and will be streamed on ESPN3.