BRADENTON, Fla. – University of Colorado Colorado Springs freshman David Kimaiyo finished No. 16 in his first national championship appearance with 3 minutes, 54.69 seconds in the preliminaries of the 1,500-meter run on the opening day of the 2016 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships at IMG Academy. He finished No. 10 in the faster of the two heats, but missed the cut for Saturday's final.

Kimaiyo was seventh through the 300-meter split with 46.70 seconds, and was consistent through the next three 400-meter splits with 1:02 in each split. He would have finished seventh in the first heat and was 4.19 seconds away from qualifying for the championship race on Saturday. Kimaiyo was the only freshman among the 20 runners in today's preliminary.

Kimaiyo qualified with 3:48.70 at the Colorado Mines Friday Last Chance Meet on May 13. He was sixth in the 5,000-meter run at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational and won three races early in the outdoor season in a pair of meets at Colorado College.