Bridger-Wilkinson Narrowly Misses Moving on to NCAA Finals

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Despite a strong performance, Belmont men's track and field sophomore Marcus Bridger-Wilkinson (Newbury, England) narrowly missed advancing to the 2012 NCAA Track and Field Championship in the 1,500-meters on Saturday afternoon at the University of North Florida's Hodges Stadium.

The Newbury, England native finished 22nd overall with a time of 3:52.47, taking 11th in his heat.

"Marcus ended up in the front of the pack from the get go and so everybody was kind of just sitting on him," said Head Coach Jeff Langdon.  "It was a very, very, very slow tactical race and really nothing he could do about that once he got into the lead.  They were just kind of sitting on him and that's just not his strength because he's got a lot better finishing speed."

"A little bit of a disappointment but a great learning experience for Marcus.  I think he'll learn a lot from this and come back next year hungrier than ever."