Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Kyle Graves Named First Team All-American at NCAA Championships
6/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field
By Josh Gresh, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeTrack)
EUGENE, Ore. - Senior Kyle Graves used a 51.92 second final 400m kick to earn sixth place finish and First Team All-American honors in the men's 1,500m final on day three of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at historic Historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon Friday afternoon.
Graves becomes the first Wake Forest male track and field athlete to earn First Team All-American honors since Michael Bingham did in 2009 in the 400m. He also becomes only the second mid-distance All-American in Wake Forest history. Warren Sherman was the first as he was a First Team All-American in the 800m in 1995. Graves also is the first distance runner to earn All-America honors since Garick Hill earned the honors in the 10,000m in 2000.
The native of Silver Spring, Md. was in the rear of the final for the first three laps of the 1,500m before using a kick on the final lap, clocking the fastest final 400m time of 51.92 seconds, finishing with a final time of 3:55.39, earning a sixth place finish. It was a great way to end his career as a Demon Deacon earning his first-career All-American honors at his first NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The top-eight in the finals earned First Team All-America honors while the final four places tabbed Second Team honors.
Graves finished third in the first heat of the 1,500m semifinal on Wednesday to earn a spot in the finals. Like in the finals, he used his tactic of running at the back for most of the race, but used a kick and a heat-best 53 second final 400m split to cross the finish line at 3:45.94, earning him a third place finish in the heat and a spot in Friday's final.
Players Mentioned
