BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Cornell senior Isaac vanWestrienen captured his fifth all-America medal in 13 months with Friday's seventh-place effort in the men's 5000-meter run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
 
He'll be in contention for another in Saturday's 3000, which goes off at 5:50 p.m. VanWestrienen is the No. 2 seed in that race.
 
VanWestrienen picked up his third career all-America award in the 5000, crossing Friday's finish line in 14:14.12. He placed fifth at both indoors and outdoors a year ago.
 
VanWestrienen stood fourth in the 20-man field at the halfway point, and then held strong for a top-eight podium position the remainder of the race. The nine-time Midwest Conference track champion finished more than four seconds ahead of the all-America cutoff.
 
Rowan's Seth Clevenger ran away with the 5000 title in a meet-record time of 13:35.55. UW-La Crosse's Aidan Matthai took runner-up in 14:03.55. Matthai joined vanWestrienen as the only runners in the field to earn all-American indoor status for the second straight year.
 
Senior Ava Claussen-Tubbs made her NCAA debut in the women's 800. The reigning MWC champion took sixth of seven in her prelims heat and finished 16th overall out of 20 competitors.
 
The school-record holder and No. 19 seed in the event, Claussen-Tubbs was clocked in 2:14.26. The top eight cutoff for Saturday's final was 2:10.99.
 
Junior Jake Bach represented the Rams in the men's mile. He placed ninth in his heat and finished 18th in the 20-man field with a mark of 4:16.96.
 
Bach led the initial lap in his heat, although couldn't keep the pace to qualify for Saturday's final. The qualifying cutoff was 4:13.13. The MWC runner-up entered the Championships as the No. 19 seed.