EUGENE, Ore. -- Former Gopher All-American Hassan Mead punched his ticket to the IIAF World Championships on Aug. 22-30 in Beijing, China, with a third-place finish in the 10,000 meters on Thursday at the USATF Outdoor Championships.
Mead, who runs professionally for Nike's Oregon Track Club Elite program, clocked a 28:16.54.
Fellow OTC Elite runners and former Gophers All-Americans Ben Blankenship and Harun Abda advanced in the 1,500 meters and 800 meters, respectively.
Blankenship paced his 1,500-meter heat from start to finish and posted the third-fastest overall qualifying time at 3:44.86. He'll run in Saturday's finals.