FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Luke Labatte of the North Dakota track and field team qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA West Preliminary Round on Friday afternoon, running the seventh-fastest time in the event with a time of 8:44.01.

By qualifying for the NCAA Championships, Labatte not only became the first member of North Dakota's steeple crew to advance to the national championship meet in UND's Division I history, but also became the first member of the men's team to qualify for the final round in school history.

Labatte entered the NCAA West Preliminary Round as the top-ranked Fighting Hawk, coming into the meet as the No. 9 seed in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He qualified for the meet with a time of 8:38.25 at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April, a time which ranked No. 18 in the NCAA at the end of the regular season. Labatte's time in Azusa is a school record and bettered his own record, which he previously set at 8:40.76 at the Stanford Invitational earlier in the season.

At the Summit League Outdoor Championships two weeks ago, Labatte was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the Championship after posting a pair of All-Summit League performances. He won the gold medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8:50.89 and his race was not close, with him winning by over eight seconds. With the win, he successfully defended his titles from the 2022 and 2023 Summit League Outdoor Championships and became the first steeplechase runner to become a three-time steeplechase champion at the conference meet since Jeff Mettler of South Dakota from 2012-14. On the final day of the conference championships, Labatte earned the bronze medal in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:29.10.

During the regular season, Labatte recorded new school records in both the 1,500 meters (3:47.45) and 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:38.25) and posted the second-fastest 5,000-meter time (14:10.09) in school history.

Prior to this season, Labatte was the only member of the UND steeple crew to compete in the event at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. That will change on Saturday, when Jadyn Keeler and Frida Giersdorff both take the track for the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 5:40 p.m. (CT). Live results of the NCAA West Preliminary Round will continue to be provided by Flash Results.