EUGENE, Ore. – After securing a bid to the 3000-meter steeplechase finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Louis-Lys Fanucchi's season came to a close on a national high note as he became a Second Team All-American on Friday evening.
 
The accolade comes as the Frenchman finished 12^th overall in the finals with his clocking of 8:55.74, greatly improving from his No. 22 NCAA rank heading into the meet. Fanucchi became the first-ever UND male athlete to reach an event finals at the national championships and earned the highest-ever placing at the national meet in program history for the UND men.
 
It also marks the second-ever time an athlete has represented the Fighting Hawk men at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the second-ever time a competing UND male athlete claimed Second Team All-American honors and the second-ever time a UND athlete appeared in the steeplechase (all previously done by Luke Labette in 2024, who finished 16^th in the semifinal).
 
Fanucchi's path to the NCAA Championship finals was a blazing one after a pair of electric showings on the track in post-season competition. He initially booked his spot to the NCAA West Preliminary Round with his time of 8:42.15 in the steeplechase in his second appearance on the track of the season when he won the event at the Stanford Invitational. Then, at the regional meet, Fanucchi claimed an eighth-place finish after clocking a then-personal best and school record time of 8:33.56 in Fayetteville, Ark.
 
But he wasn't even close to being done then.
 
Fanucchi then topped that in dramatic fashion as he ran an 8:26.57 in the event semifinals earlier this week, again breaking the school record and rewriting his previous personal best while placing him ninth overall in the field for a championship finals appearance.
 
Those times are proof of a season that was one for the record books as he broke or rewrote a school record four times during the year. The Mons En Baroeul, France-native twice broke the 3000-meter steeplechase record while also rewriting the men's 1500-meter and 5000-meter run times. He also collected Men's Track MVP of the Championship honors at the conference meet after scoring and placing in the top-four of three races and claim a pair of silver medals in the 1500-meter run and 3000-meter steeplechase.
 
And the best part of it all is that all of these accolades came in just his second outdoor track and field season.
 
The NCAA Outdoor Championships will come to a close for North Dakota on Saturday evening as Jadyn Keeler takes on her final collegiate race as a Fighting Hawk in the 5000-meter run at 8:55 p.m. on ESPN.  

For more information on North Dakota track and field, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDtrackfieldXC.