Liberty junior Felix Kandie placed ninth in Friday’s men’s steeplechase final during the last day of men’s competition at the 2021 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field.
The best-ever placement by a Liberty Flame in this event makes Kandie a two-time men’s steeplechase All-American, with both being second team honors.
Making his first appearance in the NCAA men’s steeplechase final, Kandie was part of a race where six of the top seven finishers posted personal bests, led by national champion Kigen Chemadi’s (Middle Tennessee) 8:28.20.
Kandie’s time of 8:34.15 was the second fastest of his career, trailing only his Liberty and ASUN-record 8:32.95 clocking from Wednesday’s semifinal. He just missed the eighth and final first team All-America spot and scoring position, which went to Georgetown’s Parker Stokes in 8:33.44. Kandie edged future ASUN Conference foe Ahmed Jaziri of Eastern Kentucky, who placed 10th at 8:34.85.
Kandie’s ninth-place finish is the best-ever performance by a Liberty Flame in the NCAA men’s steeplechase final. It edged the 10th-place showing of fellow Eldoret, Kenya native Evans Kigen from the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Kandie, whose previous second team All-America showing came courtesy of a 13th-place finish in the 2019 NCAA men’s steeplechase final, becomes the first Liberty men’s distance runner to earn multiple All-America notations on the track since Sam Chelanga graduated in 2011.
Liberty wraps up the men’s portion of this meet with a pair of second team All-Americans. Kyle Mitchell, like Kandie a junior, previously placed 14th in the men’s shot put on Wednesday.
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