EUGENE, Ore. — Graduate student Alexander Korczynski qualified for his first-ever NCAA Championship final in the 3000m steeplechase at Hayward Field Wednesday afternoon, advancing on time with a personal-best 8:33.13 mark.
 
Korczynski did it dramatic fashion, diving across the finish line to finish sixth in the first heat and beat out the next competitor by .30 seconds. All eyes were on heat number two, where the sixth and seventh times would determine the graduate student's fate. The seventh-place finisher crossed the line at 8:35.70, solidifying Korczynski as the 12^th and final qualifier.

That mark for Korczynski is also a school record, beating Bruce Bickford's 1977 record of 8:33.60 that he set at the Penn Relays.
 
The NCAA final will mark the end of a storied career for Korczynski, who is racing at his third NCAA Outdoor Championships, just one of four Northeastern athletes to ever do so. He has been a Second Team All-American in the steeplechase, has four CAA gold medals in the event and was the CAA Cross Country Runner of the Year in 2022 and 2023.
 
Korczynski will be the first athlete to place in the top 12 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships since Kyle Darrow finished sixth in the long jump in 2018.
 
The final will be Friday, June 7 at 6:24 p.m. PT and 9:24 p.m. ET and is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2.