BOZEMAN — Montana State's Rob McManus is no stranger to NCAA championship appearances.
The graduate distance runner will compete in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase prelims on Wednesday evening at 6:38 p.m. Mountain time. It will be his fourth appearance at the NCAA championships.
"I'm super excited," McManus said. "I feel super fortunate to be able to wrap up my time at MSU at an NCAA meet."
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McManus wants to take full advantage of the opportunity.
"It's an opportunity not everyone gets to finish out their collegiate careers," McManus said. "And my mindset going in is (having) confidence, but not overly cockiness."
That confidence is driven by the fact that McManus has been on this stage three times before already.
"I take nothing for granted competing and making these large-scale meets," McManus said. "But I've been here before, I've been around the block and I'm just really excited to get another crack at it."
This feat is not common, according to Bobcat track and field coach Lyle Weese.
"Making it to the NCAA championships in the same event four years in a row is incredibly rare," Weese said. "I think we sometimes take him for granted because he's been so good for so long."
Weese has seen the key to McManus' consistency throughout the years.
"He's a great teammate," Weese said. "He works really hard consistently, and he is a great hurdler, so him being better over the barriers than any of his competitors (is an advantage)."
McManus places a large emphasis on his mindset when preparing for meets like this.
"When I think back to my first national meet that I made in the steeplechase, it was a huge deal for me at the time," McManus said. "I wasn't expected to make the meet and ran really well at regionals."
McManus has been able to build on that success since.
"I've been able to show up and prove that I'm someone who belongs there," McManus said. "Someone who's going to be up there at the front of the pack, and someone who's got the caliber and talent to make it to a national meet."
McManus has accomplished more at Montana State in track and field than he ever dreamed he could.
"I feel incredibly lucky and incredibly fortunate that I've had the opportunities at Montana State that I have," McManus said.
The NCAA outdoor track championships opens at 3:30 p.m. Mountain on Wednesday in Eugene, Oregon.
