MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Ceili McCabe has earned a seat at the table of the most decorated runners in West Virginia University history. The junior distance runner captured her latest All-American honor with a third-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in Austin, Texas on Saturday, June 10.

By finishing third in the country in the 3,000-meter steeplechase event, McCabe earned track and field All-American honors for the third-consecutive season. She is one of just 12 runners in program history to accomplish the feat and is on an even shorter list when it comes to distance runners.

“You don’t take for granted being able to, at least, compete at that level for nine months,” McCabe said. “Obviously, some of the other people that have done it at this program before were able to go on and compete at a very high level as well.”

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Of the 11 other runners to earn an All-American finish at the national championships in three different seasons, only four primarily competed in individual distance events. Others primarily competed in distance relay events, but of course, did not run the full race. McCabe, meanwhile, is all on her own for the near-two-mile steeplechase event.

West Virginia’s other highly decorated distance runners include Megan Metcalfe, Jessica O’Connell, Marie-Louise Asselin, and Keri Bland. Bland is WVU’s most-recent athlete to become an All-American in four seasons, something that only three Mountaineer track and field runners have accomplished. McCabe can possibly match the feat next year.

Metcalfe is considered the gold standard of women’s track and field at WVU, with a total of nine All-American accolades across cross country, and indoor and outdoor track.

“[Metcalfe has] definitely been a big inspiration to me,” said the junior distance runner. “Being able to have her still around in town has been pretty priceless for people that have been able to be around her. I think that she’s just the greatest runner that has been in this program.”

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McCabe is one All-American finish in the 3,000-meter during the indoor track and field season away from tying Metcalfe for the school record in All-American honors in the event. Her sights are set a little higher.

“We definitely talked about that goal of winning an NCAA Championship as a way to springboard into international competition,” she said. “And so, the steeplechase championships definitely one that has been on my mind.”

In all, the Vancouver, British Columbia, native has claimed seven All-American awards in her WVU career. Her finish at the NCAAs last weekend completed another three-peat of sorts, as it marked McCabe’s second straight year with three All-American honors (cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track). According to WVU, the only other Mountaineers to earn All-American honors three times in the same year for at least one year are Asselin, Bland, and Grandt.

“As I’ve seen this year, it comes down to a bit of luck,” McCabe said “But if we make sure I’m feeling as healthy as possible, and [staying] on a good trajectory, [championships] are the things that we are hoping come to fruition.”