Myrtle Beach, S.C. – Henry Tierney competed in the 800m in the 2024 NCAA DIII National Championship Meet on Friday, May 24, 2024. He came into the event ranked 13^th in the nation and took 13^th place in the event. Tierney was the first male track athlete (not field) to qualify for nationals since Tyler Shipley in 2014.

The NCAA National Championships were hosted by Coastal Carolina at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach, S.C. from Thursday May 23 – Saturday, May 25. The top 22 athletes in the nation that declared in each event, and the top 16 relay teams, competed in the National Championships. The top eight finishers in each event earned All-American honors.

Tierney competed in the men's 800m preliminary round heat three on Friday, May 24 at 6:15pm Eastern Time. The top two runners from each heat auto-qualified for the finals, and the next two best times qualified to fill to eight total competitors in the final. The first and second heat ran before Tierney's third heat, and the time to beat going into Tierney's heat was 1:51.68. The third heat featured Bennett Booth-Genthe of Pomona-Pitzer, the national leader heading into the meet.

Tierney's heat was led through the first lap by Andrew Hutchinson of Dubuque who came through 400m in 56.48. Tierney made a strong move 180m into the first lap to break through the crowd and position himself on Hutchinson's outside shoulder. With 350m to go, Tierney made a push and led the field down the backstretch of the final lap, finding a 5 meter gap. Rounding the curve, the chase pack led by Booth-Genthe overtook Tierney as the field made its final surge to the finish.

In a great maneuver coming off the final curve, Tierney moved through the field again and reclaimed a strong position in third, just behind Hutchinson. Booth-Genthe sprinted away to a dominant heat victory in 1:51.99. Hutchinson was able to hold off Tierney right at the end, clocking in second with a time of 1:52.19 to Tierney's close third and time of 1:52.50. Tierney's third place finish in the third heat missed out on the time needed to qualify for finals, and Tierney took a 13^th place finish out of the preliminary round.

In the finals, it was a battle between Booth-Genthe and Cael Schoemann of UW-La Crosse, who was not ranked in the top ten going into the meet. The favorite, Booth-Genthe, battled Schoemann the entire last lap, with Schoemann coming out victorious with a 1:48.65 to Booth-Genthe's 1:48.89. Hutchinson, the other auto-qualifier from Tierney's heat, finished 7^th in 1:50.19.

The NCAA National Championships marks the end of the 2024 track and field season for the Boxers.

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