Personal Bests
800 meters - 1:54.64
1,500 meters - 3:44.22
Mile - 4:06.67
3,000 meters - 7:52.17
5,000 meters - 13:37.02
All-American
2007 Cross Country (Eighth place)
2008 Outdoor 5,000 meters (Fifth place)
2008 Cross Country (18th place)
2009 Outdoor 5,000 meters (Ninth place)
2009 Cross Country (Seventh place)
Big 12 Champion
2008 Indoor 3,000 meters
2009 Outdoor 10,000 meters
2009 Cross Country
All-Big 12 (Scored at Conference Meet)
2007 Indoor 5,000 meters
2007 Cross Country
2008 Indoor 3,000 meters
2008 Cross Country
2009 Outdoor 1,500 meters
2009 Outdoor 10,000 meters
2009 Cross Country
Honors and Awards
2005 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Cross Country)
2005 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Cross Country)
2006 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Track and Field)
2006 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Track and Field)
2006 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Cross Country)
2007 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Track and Field)
2007 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Track and Field)
2007 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Cross Country)
2007 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Cross Country)
2008 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-American
2008 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-District
2008 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Track and Field)
2008 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Track and Field)
2008 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Cross Country)
2008 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Cross Country)
2009 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Track and Field)
2009 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-American
2009 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-District
2009 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (Cross Country)
2009 First-Team Academic All-Big 12 (Cross Country)
2010 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-American
2010 ESPN the Magazine First-Team Academic All-District
2010 Outdoors: Did not compete.
2010 Indoors: Did not compete.
2009 Cross Country: Team captain and unquestioned leader of Oklahoma State's NCAA and Big 12-champion squad ... Placed seventh at the NCAA Championships in 29:40.7 to earn All-America status for the third straight year ... First-team selection to the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America team for the third time in his career, becoming the first Oklahoma State athlete in any sport to be able to make that claim ... Head coach Dave Smith would later say that the Cowboys' entire strategy at the NCAA Championships revolved around following Vail's lead ... Won the first Big 12 individual cross country title of his career with a 24:50 at the conference meet ... In doing so, he became only the sixth Cowboy to earn that distinction ... Third-place finisher at the Chile Pepper Festival in 29:31 ... Placed seventh at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet with a 31:03 ... Member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic team and a first-team academic all-Big 12 honoree.
2009 Outdoors: All-American in the 5,000 meters with a 14:11.78 that was good for a ninth place finish at the NCAA Championships ... Ran a 14:02.67 in the NCAA semifinals ... Honored as Oklahoma State's Male Student-Athlete of the Year, which encompasses all senior athletes on all of the Cowboy teams ... Big 12 champion in the 10,000 meters and took seventh at the conference meet in the 1,500 meters ... Automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships in the 5,000 meters with a third-place finish at the region meet in 14:03.88 ... Earned academic all-Big 12 honors ... Making his Big 12 title more impressive is the fact that it was the first 10,000-meter race of his Oklahoma State career ... Finished that race in 30:33.85 ... Ran the 5,000 meters in 13:37.02 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., to break the existing school record of 13:37.36 ... Clocked a season-best 3:46.06 in the 1,500 meters at John McDonnell Invitational in Fayetteville.
2009 Indoors: Did not compete.
2008 Cross Country: Earned All-America honors for the second consecutive season after placing 18th at the NCAA Championships with a 29:58.4 ... Also secured all-Big 12 honors and all-Midwest Region accolades after taking fourth at the Big 12 Championships with a 24:01.53 and sixth at the regional championships with a 31:20.65 ... Was the leader of Oklahoma State's first-ever Big 12 championship team ... Was the first American to cross the finish line at the World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan when he placed 33rd in the men's senior race ... Qualified for the senior team after finishing sixth in the open division of the 2009 national meet, where he finished the 12,000-meter race with a time of 36:24 ... Fourth-place finisher at the Cowboy Jamboree with a 24:13 ... Named to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's All-Academic team for the second straight cross country season ... Academic all-Big 12 honoree for the fourth straight year.
2008 Outdoors: Earned All-America honors after finishing fifth in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Championships with a 13:42.85 ... First-team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American ... Was the only athlete with college eligibility remaining to make the finals of the 5,000 meters at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he finished 12th ... All-region honoree in the 5,000 meters after placing sixth at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships with a 14:05.18 ... Set a personal best when he ran the 5,000 meters in 13:41.61 to finish third in the fastest section at the Stanford Invitational ... That time earned him a spot at the U.S. Olympic Trials ... Ran the 1,500 meters at two meets, clocking a personal-best 3:44.22 at the John McDonnell Invitational and a 3:44.72 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.
2008 Indoors: 2008 Big 12 indoor champion and all-Big 12 honoree in the 3,000 meters after clocking an 8:06.58 at the conference meet to win the league crown ... Ran only one other time during the indoor season, clocking an 8:01.32 in the 3,000 meters at the Tyson Invitational.
2007 Cross Country: Earned All-America honors after placing eighth at the NCAA Championships with a 29:58 ... The leader of an Oklahoma State team that finished third at the national meet ... A USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Academic team selection ... Earned a spot on the all-region team with a 30:11 that was good for an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships ... His performance there was a key to Oklahoma State winning its third consecutive regional crown ... All-Big 12 honoree with a 24:36 that was good for a third-place finish at the conference meet ... Earned first-team academic all-Big 12 accolades ... Third-place finisher with a 23:49 at the Cowboy Jamboree in lifting OSU to the meet title over Arkansas.
2007 Outdoors: Selected to the USTFCCCA Men's All-Academic Track and Field Team ... First-team Academic All-Big 12 honoree ... Was one of two Cowboys to run at the NCAA National Preliminaries where he ran 5,000 meters in 14:00.70 ... Also ran 5,000 meter at the NCAA Regionals and finished sixth with a time of 14:05.81 ... His best 5,000-meter time was at the Stanford Invitational where clocked in at 13:52.16 ... Competed at the Big 12 Preliminaries where he ran 1,500 meters with a time of 3:53.77 ... Posted a personal best 1,500-meter time of 3:49.44 at the John McDonnell.
2007 Indoors: Competed in two events his junior year ... Finished fourth at the 5,000-meter Big 12 Championships with a time of 14:09.71 ... Ran a 4:19.71 mile at the Razorback Invitational.
2006 Cross Country: First team Academic All-Big 12 honoree for the second year in a row ... Competed in two events as a sophomore ... His times in both events set career bests ... At the four-mile Golden Hurricane Festival he placed 15th with 20:59 ... He finished first among Cowboys at the 8,000-meter Cowboy Jamboree with a time of 24:24 placing him fourth at the event.
2006 Outdoors: Set what was at the time a personal best in the 5,000 meters with a 14:00.65 at the Stanford Invitational ... Took fourth place in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Regional Championships with a 14:23.51 ... His 3:52.51 in the 1,500 meters at the Big 12 Championships was a personal best at the time.
2006 Indoors: Ran in five races, clocking a personal-best 8:03.51 in the 3,000 meters at the Washington Husky Invitational ... Ran the mile in 4:19.64 at the Kansas State Wildcat Invitational ... Ran the 1,200 meter leg of the distance medley relay at the Big 12 Championships, helping Oklahoma State to a second-place finish in that event ... His 8:20.33 in the 3,000 meters at the Big 12 Championships placed him 14th.
2005 Cross Country: Academic All-Big 12 honoree for his success in the classroom ... Placed sixth at the 2005 USA Track and Field junior championships and was 77th at the 2005 IAAF world junior cross country championships ... Competed in six events his freshman year ... Ran his season best 10,000-meter time 30:56 at the NCAA Championships where he finished 67th, third among Cowboys ... Placed sixth at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships with a time of 31:03 to help the Cowboys to a first place finish ... He finished in the top 20 at the Big 12 Championships where he ran a 24:31 ... Ran a four-mile time of 21:42 at the Golden Hurricane Festival where the Cowboys took fourth place.
2005 Outdoors: Redshirted.
2005 Indoors: Set a personal best in the mile by clocking a 4:12.37 at the Big 12 Championships ... Won the mile at the Kansas State Wildcat Invitational with a 4:18.99.
2004 Cross Country: Redshirted ... Did compete with the Junior National Cross Country Team at the World Championships in Lyon, France becoming the first Cowboy to ever qualify.
High School: Achieved personal best times of 1:54.26 in the 800 meter run, 3:53.64 in the 1,500 meters, and 8:30.68 in the 3,000 meters.
Personal: Son of Brian and Laurie Vail ... Has two siblings, Matthew and Kayla ... Also wrestled and played football in high school ... Enjoys playing guitar.
