Blue Streaks Tie For Third At 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships

5/28/2023 12:27:00 AM | By: Noah Tylutki, Graduate Assistant

John Carroll earned its second consecutive podium finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships by tying for third with Rowan.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Another year, and another podium (top four) finish for the John Carroll Men's Track & Field team at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships on the campus of St. John Fisher University.

After placing second in 2022 at the national meet, the Blue Streaks tied for third with Rowan and scored 39 team points. MIT (60.5) won, while Wisconsin-La Crosse came in second with 49.

"We'll take being on the podium any time," Blue Streak head coach Kyle Basista said. "You see national and championship meet records being broken this year, and to do what these guys did in the past three days and all season is just incredible. I think we'll remember this one for a while, and it's one for the history books."

Alex Phillip helped the Blue Streaks earn 10 team points with his second national championship of the weekend, earning gold in the 5000m with a time of 14:07.39. The senior, who ran in his last race for John Carroll, goes down as perhaps the greatest athlete in JCU history, having won seven individual national titles (two in cross country, two in indoor track & field, three in outdoor track & field).

"To me, that was the feather in the cap," Basista said about Phillip's final race as a Blue Streak. That (the 5000m) was the only championship that has eluded him, and as good as he is he had to work for it, but it's just a true testament to who he is. He will go down as someone we will never forget."

Garrett Clark also had a phenomenal final day, as he earned All-American honors in three events.

The graduate student placed third in the 400m with a mark of 47.13, and was on the third place 4x100m relay team and fifth place 4x400m relay squad.

"If you don't know Garrett Clark, you better know him now," Basista said. "He's always been in the shadow of Alex Phillip, but he's the second-best track & field runner in John Carroll history. He put the team on his back, and without him, we don't do what we did. He just showed up, and I'm glad he's on our team."

The 4x100m relay also consisted of Cam Klauke, Dustin Horner, and Jimmy Kartsonas who set a new school record with a time of 40.41 seconds. Alternate Horner was added to the team after Mick Doyle, who ran on the squad during the preliminaries, was scratched.

"At the end of the day, that's a (sprints) coach (Daniel) Tutskey decision," Basista explained. "Both of them were on relay teams that would've qualified to the meet, so you couldn't have gone wrong with either one. Mick was part of the team that got us to the finals, so it's one of those things that was a gut decision and clearly it paid off."

Along with Clark, the 4x400m squad was made up of Tyler Gast, Caleb Correia, and Basheer Alramahi who earned a school record-time of 3:09.44 to give JCU much-needed points in the final race of the weekend.

The quartet broke a 21 year old program mark set by JCU Hall of Famers Antoine Dunklin, Antonio McCladdie, and George Sample and Corey Klein during their third place finish in the event at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Ethan Domitrovich also became a two-time All-American in the 3000m Steeplechase by finishing in sixth in 8:54.93. Corey Minton, who competed in his first national meet since the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships, came in 16th in the triple jump with a mark of 14.22m.

Basista, who has been the head coach for five teams that have scored points at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in his nine seasons at the helm, reflected on how truly special this experience has been for his program.

"What's been special about our program the last couple years is that it's a collective effort," Basista said. "I'm glad we had some girl qualifiers, some other alternates here, and alumni and parents supporting. We've really been able to work off this community and the group as a whole. We talk about it all the time, you don't do anything alone and this is truly a group effort. To bring another trophy back, we'll definitely remember it and are thankful for the opportunity."

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