GREENSBORO, NC – Matt Wilkinson (Sr./Greenwood, Minn./Minnetonka) took the lead on the second lap and never looked back in winning the 3000-meter steeplechase with one of the most dominating performances in NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships history.
 
This is the seventh All-America award of Wilkinson's collegiate career (see chart below).
 
Wilkinson entered the race as the top seed and did not disappoint. His winning time of 8:47.39 was less than four seconds off the D-III national championships record, an impressive accomplishment given that the race time temperature was 87 degrees in the Greensboro area.
 
Wilkinson's 20.65-second margin of victory over runner-up Christopher Collet of Wartburg College is the largest at the NCAA D-III Championships dating back to at least 1974. Only two times since then has the winner prevailed by more than 10 seconds: Jim Gathje of Saint John's (Minn.) won by 12.39 seconds in 1985, and Dawson Miller of Univ. of Wisconsin-Whitewater prevailed by 11.09 seconds in 2015. Multiple times over the last 47 years the margin of victory in the steeplechase has been one second or less.
 
Wilkinson's time is second-best time in school history—behind his record-setting performance at the MIAC Championships two weeks ago. This performance would rank as fifth fastest in D-III history if the Carleton senior was not already in sitting at No. 3 on that list.
 
Wilkinson ran each of his seven laps at 1:11.24 or faster. Six of the other 16 runners in the field did not turn in a single lap that fast, let alone seven of them.
 
Wilkinson and Collett were the only runners in the 17-person steeplechase field to qualify for another event at this year's NCAA Championships. Both are slated to compete in the 5K on Saturday afternoon.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Wilkinson and teammate Lucas Mueller (Sr./St Paul, Minn./Nova Classical Academy) will race the 5,000-meter final at 2:25pm CT/3:25pm ET on Saturday, May 29. Mueller was the runner-up in the 10K on Thursday night, earning him All-America recognition.
 
Matt Wilkinson's All-America Awards
Cross Country
2018   --   38th place
2019   --   2nd place
Indoor Track & Field
2019   --   5000m (6th place)
2020   --   3000m (ranked No. 1 at the time, NCAA Championships canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic)
2020   --   5000m (ranked No. 1 at the time, NCAA Championships canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic)
Outdoor Track & Field
2019   --   3000m steeplechase (4th place)
2021   --   3000m steeplechase (1st place)