Hope College's Nicholas Salomon set his own pace for the 800-meter preliminaries at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships and gave himself a Top-10 finish.
The junior from Troy, Michigan (Detroit Jesuit HS) rose from 20th seed to a 10th-place time of 1 minute, 51.85 seconds on Friday in Waverly, Iowa.
Salomon came within two places of qualifying for Saturday's final.
Hope coach Kevin Cole said Salomon ran a really good race.
"He was smart. We went out a little slower than everyone else, but finished strong," Cole said. "He was really moving up the field."
Salomon recorded the third-fastest time in his heat. The top runners from each of three heats and the next two fastest times after that qualified for the championship event.
Salomon was only a half-second behind the last qualifier.
"Nick had a really good national meet," Cole said. "He's got another year to move up, get into the final and be All-American. He ran 1:51 a few times this year. That's tough to do."
On Saturday, Hope's 4x100 relay will run in the championship race at 1:05 p.m. Central. The relay features seniors Dion Goliday of Muskegon, Michigan (Oakridge HS) and Boone Marois of Traverse City, Michigan (Central HS), junior Matt Pelyhes of Augusta, Michigan (Gull Lake HS) and freshman Justin Freeman of Holland, Michigan (West Ottawa HS).
