Perkins graduate Cory Leslie, along with Adam Green and Antonio Blanks, all of Ohio State, advanced to the NCAA championships with impressive performances Friday evening at the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla., highlighting day two at Hodges Stadium for the Ohio State men’s track and field team.

Leslie ran the fifth-fastest times of the 3000m steeplechase preliminary to move on to next month’s national championships in Des Moines. Leslie placed second in his heat in a time of 8:41.95. Eastern Kentucky’s Ben Torotich posted the top time of the 12 championship qualifiers, crossing the finish line in 8:37.03.