PITTSBURG, Kan. (March 11, 2016) – Junior Dage Minors (Hamilton Parish, Bermuda) in the 800 meters and the distance medley relay squad each earned All-America Second Team honors on Friday for the Franklin Pierce University men's track & field team, on the first day of the NCAA Championships. The indoor season's finale is being hosted by Pittsburg State and the Crawford County Convention & Visitors Bureau at the Robert W. Plaster Center.

Despite the All-America nod in the 800, the result stood as a bit of heartbreak for Minors, who ran the seventh-fastest heat time, but narrowly missed qualifying for Saturday's eight-runner final anyway. The 800-meter preliminaries featured 16 runners spread across three heats, with the top two finishers from each heat, plus the two next-best times overall, advancing to the final.

Minors' run of 1:51.04 was good for third in the first heat, but the time would fail to hold up by the smallest of margins. The third heat would later push four through to the final, with St. Augustine's freshman Shaquille Dill turning in a 1:51.01 to edge Minors by 0.03 seconds for the last spot in the final. Still, Minors' run will ultimately be good for a ninth-place finish and his third career All-America honor.

Texas A&M-Commerce junior Luis Romero won the heat Minors ran in and will take the top time into Saturday's final, as he clocked a 1:50.37. In fact, the first heat posted the two fastest qualifying times, as Romero was followed by Colorado Mines junior Patrick Weaver, who checked in at 1:50.61. The second- through ninth-fastest heat times were separated by less than one second.

As for the distance medley relay, the quartet of junior Jon Holmes (Albany, N.Y.), sophomore Joshua Ercolini (Woburn, Mass.), Minors and junior B.J. Smith (Concord, N.H.) could not find the pace they had been able to set earlier in the season. The team still picked up All-America honors as well, but turned in a time of 10:13.32 to finish 12th out of 12 teams in the event.

Fellow Northeast-10 Conference member American International took home the national title in the distance medley, with a time of 9:48.02.

The Ravens conclude their trip to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, with graduate student Andre Wooten (St. Charles, Mo.) slated to compete in the triple jump at 3:20 p.m. (EST).

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce track and field apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' brand new online store (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store).