Indoor or Outdoor, Paul Thistle an All-American

Individual Results
Team Scores

BEREA, Ohio -- Susquehanna University's senior Paul Thistle (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) earned All-America honors by finishing in fifth place out of 16 athletes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2010 NCAA Division III men's outdoor track & field championships at Baldwin-Wallace College's Tressel Field at The George Finnie Stadium on May 28.

Thistle's time of 9 minutes, 4.33 seconds broke his own school record set last season, scored four team points for Susquehanna and earned him a second All-America award this school year. He was an indoor track & field All-American in the one-mile run this past winter.

A University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire runner captured the national steeplechase championship with a time of 8:56.20--the fastest in Division III this season and a Finnie Stadium record.

Thistle was in seventh place approaching the final water barrier of the final lap but then passed two runners down the stretch before being edged by the fourth-place finisher at the finish line by five-hundredths of a second.

"It's hard to be upset with my fastest-ever time," said Thistle. "I really can't complain with being an All-American again.

"The race went out pretty fast, so I just focused on my splits. When the pace slowed, I made my move to the front of the pack."

The All-America finish caps a wonderful collegiate career for Thistle, who hopes to continue competing.

"I'm definitely going to keep running. Maybe train with Marty [Owens, SU's head coach,] and look for places to compete."

Thanks to Thistle's four points, Susquehanna finished the Division III outdoor championships tied for 62nd place nationally. Eighty-five teams scored at least 0.5 points at the national meet. 

End of season