SUU's Cameron Levins will make his run at a title(s) this week in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. (SUU photo)
Levins' time in the 10k this season (27:27.96) ranks as the second fastest mark in the history of the NCAA with his time of 29:58.44 at the NCAA Preliminaries last weekend also ranking first among 24 preliminary qualifying times. Levins will be up against familiar foes in the race, having faced Stanford's Chris Derrick and Oregon's Luke Peskedra at the West preliminaries and at the 2011 NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
The 10k race in Terre Haute in November saw Levins finishing fourth and earning All-American status. Derrick finished second at the championships with Puskedra behind Levins in sixth place.
More familiar faces will surround Levins in the 5k on Friday as the senior faced six of the competitors at the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Levins blazed to a fourth-place finish in the men's 5,000-meters at the indoor championships in March, earning his second All-American citation of the year, beating out several of the field in Friday's 5k. Included in the group were Minnesota's Hassan Mead (7th), Oklahoma State's Girma Mecheso (10th), Eastern Kentucky's Soufiane Bouchikhi (11th) and Stanford's Brendan Gregg (15th).
Runners in the field that finished ahead of Levins in March include Arizona's Lawi Lalang (1st) and Stephen Sambu (3rd). However, Levins looks to have a slight advantage over Lalang going into the 5k on Friday as Lalang will also be running in the men's 1,500-meters on Thursday. Levins will have an extra day of rest and motivation to overcome finishing behind Lalang during the cross country and indoor seasons.
A video stream of Levins' 10k race on Wednesday night at 7:45PM is anticipated to be available online at www.ncaa.com. Fans are then encouraged to go to www.watchespn.com on Friday night to watch Levins run in the 5k at 6:10PM.
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