With less than half a second separating him from advancing to this weekend's finals and a shot at All-America status, Jackson Brainerd's trip to Ohio for the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships ended sooner than he had hoped. 

Brainerd's 3:53.84 clocking in Thursday's opening round at Baldwin-Wallace College was good for seventh place in his heat and 13th overall in a field of 15 student athletes who qualified for nationals in the 1,500 meters.

The top four in each heat, plus the runners with the next four fastest times for a total of 12 altogether, move on to battle for an NCAA title on Saturday. The final qualifier got in with a 3:53.43, just .41 seconds faster than Brainerd, who recently finished his sophomore year at Colorado College.

An All-American in cross country last fall, Brainerd set a school record in the 1,500 earlier this spring when he posted a 3:51.30 at the Occidental College Invitational. That time would have earned him eighth place on Thursday. But, after leading for the first half of his heat, was unable to maintain the pace.

"Jackson's best time as a freshman was 3:56 and he ran under that four times this year,"  said head coach Ted Castaneda, "so it really was a great season. He's just a sophomore, young, and will be back again next year. 

"He put everything on the line, as we knew he would need to. He was competing against some great 800 runners, ahead at the start, but they started catching him at about two and three quarter laps. Then he just couldn't match their final kick. But he still a great season."