Montana State senior Matt Adams ran the steeple chase race of his life at the NCAA West Regional meet in Austin, Texas and came up .30 seconds short of going to the national championships. 

Adams ran a life best 8:54.56 in the men's 3000 meter steeple chase, beating his previous best by ten seconds. Unfortunately, he came in 13^th place in a race where only the top 12 go to the national championships. The 12^th place finisher ran 8:54.26.

“Matt ran the best race to qualify I've seen,” head coach Dale Kennedy said. “It was really something. He started out the heat in 9^th or tenth and was leading by the bell lap. A couple guys pushed by him before the last water jump and he gave everything he had to catch them.”

“I'm pretty disappointed,” Adams said. “I felt like I held back for most of the race. The pace was slower than I thought it would be so I started moving up. All it took was a second on the last lap when I wasn't mentally there and I got passed. I'm not the best 400 kicker, but I thought for sure I could pull it off.”

Adams went into the last lap of the race in first place. Several other runners were waiting for someone to quicken the pace and took advantage of Adams' pace.

“When I pulled out on the last lap, some of the rest of the guys stepped it up and they were better finishers than me,” Adams said. “I felt like I ran a good race and gave it everything I could.”

In other Friday action, Bobcat Pat Eckerson placed 34^th in the men's hammer with a throw of 182-01. Kirstin Lee placed 39^th in the women's discus with a throw of 142-07. Both Eckerson and Lee were well short of their season best performances. Emily Tyrrell qualified for the national meet in the javelin Thursday.