WBOY.com

Ceili McCabe qualifies for NCAA semifinals for third straight outdoor season

West Virginia's Ceili McCabe lands in and exits the water area of the track during the steeplechase at the Mountaineer Twighlight meet in Morgantown on April 30, 2022. (Photo Ryan Decker)

West Virginia junior standout distance runner Ceili McCabe easily qualified for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships with her performance in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the East First Round in Jacksonville, Florida.

McCabe is one of three Mountaineer runners who competed in the national quarterfinals Saturday.

Advancing to the semifinals is no surprise for the Vancouver, British Columbia native. She is a two-time All-American during the outdoor track and field season, and will make her third appearance in the NCAA semifinals.

McCabe completed Saturday’s steeplechase event in a time of 9:54.41. That was good enough for the second-best time among the qualifier from the East region competitors, trailing only Notre Dame’s Olivia Markezich.

McCabe is the three-time reigning Big 12 champion in the event.

She led wire-to-wire Saturday, running slightly ahead of Butler’s Angelina Ellis, who entered with a better season-best time, for nearly the entire run. McCabe pulled away at the end, crossing the finish line exactly five seconds ahead of second-place Olivia Morganti of the University of Pennsylvania.

Fellow Mountaineer Katherine Dowie finished with a time of 10:36.14, but fell short of qualifying for the national semifinals.

Mikaela Lucki was the third Mountaineer competing Saturday. Lucki finished the women’s 1500M run with a time of 4:23.58, as her season comes to an end in Jacksonville.

McCabe advances to the NCAA Championship meet for the third time in her career. She will compete in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase national semifinals on Thursday, June 8, beginning at 9 p.m. ET in Austin, Texas.