Sam McEntee & Emily Lipari Advance to NCAA 1500 FinalRob Denault Eliminated in Semi-Final

Villanova will have a competitor in both the men's and women's NCAA championship final over 1500 meters.  Sam McEntee ran the second fastest 1500 meters outdoors (3:41.32) of his career and showed a strong finishing kick (55.28 over the final 400 meters, 2nd fastest close in the heat) from mid-pack to come second in his heat (and second-fastest overall) and qualify for Saturday's final. It is McEntee's third NCAA final at 1500/mile: he was previously 4th at the 2012 NCAA indoor mile championships and came 9th at last year's NCAA outdoor championships 1500 meter final. Likewise, Emily Lipari spent much of her 1500 meter semi-final today in the middle of the pack, but was strong over the final 200 meters to move smartly into third place and qualify for the final.  Lipari ran 4:16.96 -- about one second off the 4:15.89 SB she ran at the NCAA East Regional. It is her first outdoor NCAA final appearance.
Villanova freshman Rod Denault, himself a sub-4:00 miler but running in traffic when the leaders struck for home, was unable to close in on the leaders of his heat and came 8th in his heat in 3:44.65.

Here are the complete results from each heat:

MEN

Event 5  Men 1500 M
================================================================                
 2 Heats.  Advance top 5 from each heat plus next best 2 times                  
    American: A 3:29.30  8/28/2005   Bernard Lagat, Nike                        
College Best: C 3:35.30  6/6/1981    Sydney Maree, Villanova                    
   NCAA Meet: M 3:35.30  6/6/1981    Sydney Maree, Villanova                    
    Name                    Year School                 Prelims                 
================================================================                
Heat  1 Preliminaries                                                           
  1 Mac Fleet                 JR Oregon                 3:41.21Q                
  2 Sam McEntee               SO Villanova              3:41.32Q                
  3 Zach Perkins              SO Air Force              3:41.46Q                
  4 Austin Mudd               SO Wisconsin              3:41.47Q                
  5 Ryan Hill                 SR NC State               3:41.53Q                
  6 John Simons               JR Minnesota              3:41.73q                
  7 Patrick Casey             SR Oklahoma               3:41.93q                
  8 Chad Noelle               SO Oregon                 3:42.80                 
  9 Matt Hillenbrand          JR Kentucky               3:44.48  3:44.475       
 10 Christopher Fallon        SR Ohio State             3:44.62                 
 11 Rich Peters               SR Boston U.              3:44.85                 
 12 Isaac Wendland            SR Liberty                4:00.78                 
Heat  2 Preliminaries                                                           
  1 Riley Masters             SR Oklahoma               3:42.84Q                
  2 Andrew Bayer              SR Indiana                3:43.00Q                
  3 Jeremy Rae                SR Notre Dame             3:43.19Q                
  4 Robby Creese              SO Penn State             3:43.55Q                
  5 Patrick McGregor          SR Texas                  3:44.15Q                
  6 Alex Hatz                 SO Wisconsin              3:44.48  3:44.476       
  7 Nathan Weitz              FR Northern Arizona       3:44.56                 
  8 Robert Denault            FR Villanova              3:44.65                 
  9 Grant Pollock             JR Virginia Tech          3:45.34                 
 10 Tyler Stutzman            JR Stanford               3:45.48                 
 11 Patrick Todd              SR Oregon                 3:46.95                 
 12 James Shirvell            JR Yale                   3:50.91

WOMEN

Event 25  Women 1500 M
================================================================             
 2 Heats.  Advance top 5 from each heat plus next best 2 times               
    American: A 3:57.12  7/26/1983   Mary Slaney, Athletics West             
College Best: C 3:59.90  6/7/2009    Jenny Barringer, Colorado               
   NCAA Meet: M 4:06.19  6/14/2008   Hannah England, Fla State               
    Name                    Year School                 Prelims              
================================================================     
Heat  1 Preliminaries                                                        
  1 Natalja Piliusina         JR Oklahoma State         4:14.39Q             
  2 Shelby Houlihan           SO Arizona State          4:14.61Q             
  3 Anne Kesselring           SR Oregon                 4:14.74Q             
  4 Cory McGee                JR Florida                4:14.87Q             
  5 Amanda Mergaert           SR Utah                   4:14.89Q             
  6 Linden Hall               SO Florida State          4:15.51q             
  7 Amanda Eccleston          SR Michigan               4:16.29q             
  8 Charlotte Arter           JR New Mexico             4:19.27              
  9 Chloe Anderson            JR New Mexico             4:19.82              
 10 Josephine Adams           JR North Texas            4:20.52              
 11 Laura Roxberg             SR Missouri               4:21.52              
 12 Lianne Farber             JR North Carolina         4:23.18              
Heat  2 Preliminaries                                                        
  1 Stephanie Brown           JR Arkansas               4:16.41Q             
  2 Amanda Winslow            SR Florida State          4:16.59Q             
  3 Emily Lipari              JR Villanova              4:16.96Q             
  4 Becca Friday              SR Oregon                 4:17.46Q             
  5 Rebecca Tracy             SR Notre Dame             4:17.70Q             
  6 Greta Feldman             SR Princeton              4:18.25              
  7 Julia Zrinyi              FR Connecticut            4:21.17              
  8 Damajeria Dubose          SR UC Riverside           4:24.30              
  9 Agata Strausa             JR Florida                4:24.90              
 10 Kelly Curran              JR Notre Dame             4:28.20              
 11 Rebecca Addison           SR Michigan               4:28.89              
 12 Josephine Moultrie        SR New Mexico             4:31.86