June 8, 2005

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Utah State's Mike Nielson finished 24th in the 5,000 while junior Tiffany Strickland finished 24th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Track and Field Championships here late Wednesday.

Nielson, a senior from Bellevue, Wash., ran a 14:33.33 in the preliminaries and missed the 16th and final qualifying spot by 32 seconds. Nick Willis of Michigan topped the field with a time of 13:54.24

Nielson had entered the meet ranked 18th in the field with a school record time of 13:56.76 he set on April 23. This race capped his outstanding career, which featured school records in the 5,000 and 10,000 as well as Big West Championships in the 1,500 and 5,000 in 2002 and a Western Athletic Conference Indoor title in the 3,000 this year.

Strickland ran her event in 10:25.64, just four seconds off of her school record time of 10:21.20, which she set at the NCAA West Regional. The top 14 in the preliminary races qualified for the finals. Strickland was 11 seconds out of the top 14. Butler's Victoria Mitchell posted the field's best time at 10:07.02.

The junior from Orem entered the meet ranked 16th in the event after automatically qualifying by placing third at the West Regional. Earlier this spring Strickland captured the Big West Championship in this event with a time of 10:30.60.