University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
NCAA Outdoor Championship
Llano Ninth At NCAA Championship In 10,000m, Earns All-America Honors
06/10/2010 | Women's Track & Field
June 10, 2010
EUGENE, Ore. - Redshirt junior Matt Llano placed ninth overall in the 10,000m Thursday night at the 2010 NCAA National Track & Field Championship, hosted by the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore. The finish secured All-America status for Llano.
"I felt great and had the goal of being All-America", said Llano. "Of course I would like to have run a second faster and placed seventh but I achieved my goal and will be back next year. The race was physical and people were shoving a lot. I guess that's pretty normal at this level."
The Arnold, Md. native and Atlantic 10 Champion in the 10,000m was clocked in a time of 29:10.27, which was good for the ninth (fourth-place among U.S. born runners) in the event that featured 24 of the nation's elite collegiate distance runners.
Llano had brought the 14th-fastest time to Eugene. He was less than a second shy of a top-eight podium showing. Liberty's Sam Chelanga won the NCAA Championship by cruising to the finish in a time 28:37.40.
"It's been a great season for Matt", said men's head coach Steve Taylor. "I couldn't be happier for him. No one knows how hard he has worked to get to this point in his career. He is the epitome of the student-athlete. He makes all the sacrifices required with his training, sleep patterns, diet and mental preparation to be ready for the effort it takes to achieve greatness in this sport, especially at this level."
Llano's appearance at the NCAA National Championship meet was the first by a Richmond men's runner since 1985, the first by a Spider men's distance runner since 1980 and marked the program's best finish (men & women) at the NCAA Championship since Edwin Koech was sixth in the 800m in 1984.
