By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

WALNUT, CALIF. -- Willamette University men's track and field runners Ben Donovan (Jr., Minneapolis, MN/South HS) and Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) excelled on Thursday, April 14 and Friday, April 15 at the Mt. SAC Relays, hosted by Mt. San Antonio College. On Thursday, Donovan improved his NCAA Division III provisional qualifying time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. On Friday, Redfield earned an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 1,500-meter run.

Donovan recorded a time of 9:18.22 in the steeplechase. Pending other results this week, his time ranks seventh in Division III this season. Donovan improved by more than four seconds on his previous NCAA provisional time of 9:22.61 which he earned at the Willamette Opener on March 5. The NCAA Division III provisional standard is 9:24.00.

At the Mt. SAC Relays, Donovan placed sixth in his section and 18th overall in an event with 36 entries, mostly competitors from NCAA Division I.

The Bearcats also were represented by Nicholas Rebol (Sr., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff Union HS) in the steeplechase. He earned a time of 9:29.48.

Redfield finished the 1,500-meter run in 3:53.35, as he succeeded in meeting the NCAA provisional standard of 3:53.50. Redfield took fifth place among the 13 runners in his section. Ryan McLaughlin (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Milwaukie HS) also competed for Willamette in the 1,500, which featured an overall field of 145 runners.

Seven athletes on the Willamette men's and women's track and field teams have achieved a total of eight NCAA automatic or provisional qualifying times this season. Three of the qualifying times were achieved at the Mt. SAC Relays, including an automatic qualifying time of 10:23.34 by Kimber Mattox (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS/Cornell Univ.) in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.