BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Furman freshman Kristlin Gear won the 3,000-meter steeplechase and rookie Emma Kuntz advanced to the 800-meter run finals and established a new program record Friday at the USA Track & Field Junior Outdoor Championships, which are being held this weekend at the Hayes Track at the Haugh Complex on the campus of Indiana University.

With the victory, Gear qualifies for Team USA’s U20 world team, which will compete at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships on July 10-15 in Tampere, Finland. A native of Fort Meyers, Forida, she took the lead in the third lap and slowly pulled away from the field, winning the race by more than three seconds with a time of 10:28.05. Gear, who earned honorable mention All-American accolades in the event at last week’s NCAA Championships, posted a school-record time of 9:52.71 at the NCAA East Preliminaries to reach the finals, where she placed 24th nationally.

Earlier in the night, Kuntz, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, posted a time of 2:08.96 in the 800m, breaking her own program record and placing fourth in her heat and sixth overall. The top three runners in each of the two heats plus the runners with next two best times advanced to the finals, which are scheduled for Saturday at 6:20 p.m. The reigning Southern Conference champion in the event, Kuntz previously set the program record of 2:09.91 at the Oregon Twilight meet in May.

The top two individuals in each event at the meet qualify for Team USA’s U20 world team.

Live results from the meet are available at https://results.usatf.org/2018JrOutdoors/ and a live webcast of the event is available to paid subscribers at http://www.usatf.tv/gprofile.php?do=videos&mgroup_event_id=7289&year=2018&mgroup_id=45365&video_id=245974.