JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (5/23/19) -- University of Detroit Mercy track and field senior distance runner Ben Kendell wrapped up a hall-of-fame career by placing 21st in the 10,000-meters at the NCAA East Preliminary Round on Thursday night at Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.

In one of the fastest 10,000m in the history of the preliminary round, Kendell clocked a 30:06 run to earn 21st in the field of 48 runners. He needed to place in the top 12 in order to move onto the NCAA Division I Championships, but fell short in a field that saw nine competitors turn in sub-29 minute runs. 

The race was the final one in a brilliant cross country and track and field career for Kendell. 

In track, he was a four-time Horizon League champion winning the indoor 3000m in 2017 and 2018 as well as the outdoor 5,000m in 2019 and the 10,000m in 2015. He was also tabbed the Horizon League Male Outdoor Athlete of the Year this season. 

Kendell ended a brilliant cross country career back in the fall, which included four times earning All-Horizon League First Team, a pair of runner-up finishes and winning the league title in 2018, where he was also the Horizon League Outdoor Athlete of the Year. In his cross country career, he set the school record in the 8k and 10k, was runner-up at the 2018 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship and placed 95th at the NCAA DI National Championship. 

In the classroom, he was just as impressive as a five-time member of the Detroit Mercy Athletic Director's Honor Roll and a four-time member of the Horizon League's fall and spring academic honor rolls. He was also named to five HL Academic Team's in cross country and track and was the Horizon League Scholar-Athlete of the Year three times in the fall (2015, 2016, 2018), once in the winter (2018) and once in the spring (2018) and was a CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team selection in 2017.