Tulane Freshman Silas Kiptanui Obliterates Green Wave Steeplechase Record

The Tulane Green Wave track and field team made the trek down to Jacksonville, Fla., for the NCAA East Region championships and Silas Kiptanui blew everybody away. 

Kiptanui had only competed in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase twice prior to the East Region and the freshman obliterated a 23-year-old school record to set the seventh fastest time in the country. 

With a time of 8:27.28, he earned a bid to the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Ore., which will begin on June 11 at legendary Hayward Field.

His previous best time came during the American Athletic Conference championship meet, which was 8:41.41. That was two weeks prior in Charlotte, N.C.

The Green Wave's previous record in this event was set by Solomon Kandie on May 31, 2002. Kiptanui broke the mark one day shy of its anniversary. Per Tulane's track and field record book Kandie's time was 8:35.30. Kiptanui broke his mark by eight seconds. while Kandie held the record for 23 years, his time was only one second better than the runner behind him on the all-time list.

The Green Wave sent eight student-athletes to regionals. That included AAC freshman of the year Bernard Cheruiyot and another freshman, Blezzin Kimutai. As of this writing, neither qualified for the NCAA championships based on their finishes in Jacksonville.

Saturday’s schedule comes down to whether runners qualified earlier in the week. For instance, Jane Dean and Egde Ndip-Agbor will run again on Saturday if they advance to the quarterfinals for the 800 meters and 200 meters, respectively. Both races will be held in the 6 p.m. window.

Kimutai will run for the second time during the meet in the 5,000-meter semifinals at 7:10 p.m.

Also on Saturday, Kia Todd makes her appearance in the meet as the Green Wave’s only field participant. She will compete in the triple jump at 1:30 p.m.

The Green Wave track and field team is coming off the American Athletic Conference outdoor championships, where the women finished fourth and the men finished seventh. Earlier this year the men and women combined to win the AAC indoor championship.