Roseville's Mason Ferlic qualifies for U.S. Olympic team in steeplechase

EUGENE, ORE. — Mason Ferlic will be an Olympian.

The 27-year-old Roseville native finished third on Friday in the steeplechase in the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Ore.

His time in the 3,000-meter race was 8 minutes, 22.05 seconds, as he pulled into third place with 200 meters remaining and held on from there. His time was slower than his personal best of 8:18.49 seconds, set on the same track in April but good enough for the last qualifying spot for the Tokyo Games.

Hillary Bor, who finished eighth in the event in the 2016 Rio Olympics, won in 8:21.34. Bernard Keter was second in 8:21.81. Former Gophers and Richfield standout Obsa Ali was eight (8:29.98) and the Gophers' Alec Basten, the NCAA runner-up as a redshirt senior two weeks ago on the same track, place 10th (8:33.32).

"One of those races where it comes together and you kind of black out in the middle of it," Ferlic said, "but at the same time are conscious of every move you are making. I haven't had time to process it — I kind of blacked out or had an asthma attack at the end. I tried to conserve energy knowing coming out of that penultimate water jump we'd get rolling.

"Coming into that water pit I was shoulder to shoulder with [Daniel] Michalski, and Hilary and Keter were a couple of meters ahead. As soon as I touched ground over that last barrier and knew I had done it clean, I thought, 'Heck yeah baby, just relax the face and drive forward to the finish line.' "

Michalski finished fourth.

"I could sense him next to me," Ferlic said. "It was one of those things where you don't look around, just look forward. I give myself a B minus on the finish here. I've been practicing finishing all season, but maybe didn't have the pop.

"I'm less nervous for the Olympics now. Making the team was half the battle, but now I just want to rip it."

Ferlic went to Mounds Park Academy in high school and was a four-time state champion in cross-country and track.

Ben Blankenship, a former Gopher from Stillwater, finished 22nd in the 1,500 semifinals in 3:46.58. The top 12 advanced to the final on Sunday.

Star Tribune staff writer Rachel Blount contributed to this report.