McDonald in the frame for worlds with qualifier

Morgan McDonald has put himself right into contention for a spot on the Australian team for the upcoming world championships with a qualifying mark at the Knight of Athletics meet in Belgium.

The junior who attends the University of Wisconsin clocked the fastest time by an undergraduate in Badger’s history placing tenth in 13:15.83 over 5000m.

He joins four other Australians in Patrick Tiernan, Sam McEntee and Stewart McSweyn who have run under the standard of 13:22.60 for the London world championships.

McDonald is now the sixth fastest Australian all-time over 5000m moving ahead of the late great Ron Clarke following his recent performance of 3:55.79 over the mile at the Morton Games in Dublin.

Last month McDonald, who placed tenth over 5000m at the world junior championships in 2014, ran 13:23.28 at the Portland Track Classic putting him on track for a last-minute qualifier.

The race was won by Birhanu Yemataw 13:09.93 from Bahrain.

In the women’s race Australian pair Madeline Hills (15:12.63) and Eloise Wellings (15:14.54) placed ninth and tenth respectively in their final preparations for London.

Other Australian results from Huesden

400mH – Lauren Wells 56.21 – 2^nd

800m – Anneliese Rubie 2:04.08 – 4^th

Georgia Griffith 2:04.47 – 6^th

110mH – Nicholas Hough 13.76 – 4^th

Pole Vault – Liz Parnov 4.41m – 3^rd

1500m – Jenny Blundell 4:11.64 – 14^th