Phillip's Championship in the 10000m Highlights Strong Day One at NCAA Championships

5/26/2023 12:52:00 AM | By: Noah Tylutki, Graduate Assistant

Alex Phillip and JCU head coach Kyle Basista pose on the podium.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Day One of the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships could not have gone any better for the John Carroll Men's Track & Field team.

Alex Phillip won his second consecutive national championship in the 10000m, both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays qualified for Saturday's finals, and Ethan Domitrovich had a strong showing in the 3000m Steeplechase to punch his ticket to the finals as well.

"Honestly, we couldn't have hoped for a much better day one," Blue Streak head coach Kyle Basista said. "We checked all the boxes, and at this point it's all about surviving and advancing because Saturday's finals are all that matter."

Phillip capped the day off by setting a new NCAA Championships record in the 10000m with a time of 28:37.89, and only second in Division III history behind his own record of 28:31.60 set back on April 22 at Stanford's Payton Jordan Invitational.

The senior came out and beat second place Ethan Gregg by 18 seconds after not winning the 3000m and 5000m at the Indoor Championships.

"Alex looked phenomenal today," Basista said. "I think after indoor, some complacency set in as far as going to the national championship and expecting it to be easy for him. It was a wakeup call that he frankly needed, and he definitely responded. He's in the best shape of his life and I think he proved it winning the 10K in the fastest championship race in D3 history."

The 4x100m relay team of Cam Klauke, Garrett Clark, Mick Doyle, and Jimmy Kartsonas placed sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 40.86 to earn a spot in Saturday's finals. The 4x400m squad consisting of Tyler Gast, Clark, Caleb Correia, and Basheer Alramahi did the same, with the fourth best qualifying time in the preliminaries with 3:11.56.

Domitrovich's 8:52.65 in the 3000m Steeplechase preliminaries puts him in the finals for the second straight year, after he earned All-American honors with a fourth place finish last season.

"It's definitely a different year compared to last year for Ethan," Basista said. "I think he was fighting to maybe get to the final, just seeing and hoping he would do a good job. Today, I think he ran a very smart and calculated race. For him, it's just hoping he saved his best for Saturday which I think he did."

Clark and Alramahi will be JCU's only competitors on Day Two of the NCAA Championships, as they will compete in the 400m preliminaries. The Blue Streaks also gained 10 team points from Phillip's championship, which currently sits them tied for fourth behind MIT (14), Wisconsin-Platteville (12), and Rowan (12).

"We couldn't be set up any better than where we are after day one," Basista said. "We're competing, and if they keep competing we're going to be in a good spot."

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