Hassan Mead breaks school record, makes Olympic Trials

Minnesota distance runner Hassan Mead broke the school record in the 10,000-meter run and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials late Sunday at the Payton Jordan Invite at Stanford University.

The senior clocked in at 28 minutes, 12.74 seconds, well below the Automatic Olympic Trial qualifying time of 28:15.00. Mead finished sixth in his section and 26th overall in a meet with many post-collegiate and professional athletes competing. He had the fourth-best time of all college entrants.

Garry Bjorklund set the previous school record back in 1974. Mead smashed Bjorklund's time of 28:24.40 and his previous personal record of 29:04.79, which he set at the 2011 Big Ten championships.

Fellow Gophers runner Pieter Gagnon also competed in the 5,000 meter at the meet. He finished seventh in his section with a time of 14:10.83.

The U.S. Olympic Trials take place June 21 to July 1 in Eugene, Ore. The top competitors from the trials will make the U.S. Olympic team that will compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.