AUSTIN, Texas – Sun Devil senior William Paulson kept his historic season alive by winning his semifinal heat and advancing to the NCAA 1,500-meter final, Wednesday at the first day of the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Austin, Texas.
In a field that included five conference champions, Paulson left nothing to chance as he darted into the lead pack from the gun and held on to a position on the rail for the entire race.
"I thought Will did exactly what he needed to do today," distance coach Cory Leslie said. "I think in a prelim, you try to get one of the automatic qualifying spots and he was able to do that, but still look completely in control."
The Pac-12 champion and school record-holder withstood the heat and took control of the race with 300 meters to go, opening up a gap between him and the rest of the field that would prove to be insurmountable as he cruised to the win at Mike A. Myers Stadium in 3:45.82.
Paulson was no stranger to the national stage prior to his time at ASU, advancing to the championship meet in the 1,500 in back-to-back seasons while at Princeton.
With the win today, Paulson clinched his first trip to an outdoor final and has the chance to earn his second first-team All-America honor of the season after he took fifth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March.
"We've been able to stay healthy and that's allowed us to stack some good blocks of training and some workouts on top of each other to really simulate championship racing and time trial racing," Leslie said. "As we've picked up more experience and gotten into those races, he's been able to handle everything and really excel."
The senior will run in his final race for ASU Friday evening at 5:41 p.m. PT. With a finish in the top-eight, Paulson will walk away as the first Sun Devil in school history to earn a first-team All-America honor in the 1,500.
Before Paulson gets back on the track, the women's championship gets going as indoor shot put champion Samantha Noennig, All-American Beatrice Llano and school record-holder Seri Geisler compete in the shot put, hammer throw and javelin throw respectively.
In a field that included five conference champions, Paulson left nothing to chance as he darted into the lead pack from the gun and held on to a position on the rail for the entire race.
"I thought Will did exactly what he needed to do today," distance coach Cory Leslie said. "I think in a prelim, you try to get one of the automatic qualifying spots and he was able to do that, but still look completely in control."
The Pac-12 champion and school record-holder withstood the heat and took control of the race with 300 meters to go, opening up a gap between him and the rest of the field that would prove to be insurmountable as he cruised to the win at Mike A. Myers Stadium in 3:45.82.
Paulson was no stranger to the national stage prior to his time at ASU, advancing to the championship meet in the 1,500 in back-to-back seasons while at Princeton.
With the win today, Paulson clinched his first trip to an outdoor final and has the chance to earn his second first-team All-America honor of the season after he took fifth in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March.
"We've been able to stay healthy and that's allowed us to stack some good blocks of training and some workouts on top of each other to really simulate championship racing and time trial racing," Leslie said. "As we've picked up more experience and gotten into those races, he's been able to handle everything and really excel."
The senior will run in his final race for ASU Friday evening at 5:41 p.m. PT. With a finish in the top-eight, Paulson will walk away as the first Sun Devil in school history to earn a first-team All-America honor in the 1,500.
Before Paulson gets back on the track, the women's championship gets going as indoor shot put champion Samantha Noennig, All-American Beatrice Llano and school record-holder Seri Geisler compete in the shot put, hammer throw and javelin throw respectively.