SUNY Delhi's Mason 4th at national event

Staff Report

June 23, 2008 04:00 am

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SUNY Delhi sophomore-to-be Chris Mason lopped more than 33 seconds off his personal best and placed fourth Saturday in the USA Track and Field Junior Nationals in the 10,000 meters at Ohio State.

Mason, the lone junior college runner in the field who was seeded 13th in the 14-man race, crossed in 31 minutes, 38.90 seconds.

"He handled the pressure really well," Broncos coach Bob Backus said. "He really rose to the occasion."

Mason's previous best time in the event came in May, when he set a meet record at the NJCAA Division III nationals, with a time of 32:12.32. When school ended, Mason went back to his home in Auburn and trained.

"I gave him some workouts and he followed my directions to a tee," Backus said of Mason, the first SUNY Delhi athlete to qualify for this meet. "You know, some guys go home and run three or four miles a day and say, Yeah, coach, I'm training.' He followed the workouts."

Mason went through the two-mile mark at 9:56 and ran the first 8 kilometers in 25:20. His slowest 400-meter split was 1:17, and he ran his last lap in 1:11.

"He had very even splits," Backus said.

Backus said many of the runners were from Division I schools, including Daniel Dunbar of Southern Illinois University, who won the race in 30:34.09.