HOUSTON, Texas --- Former Biola track and cross country standout Brian Ball placed 39th in a field of 85 Olympic hopefuls on Saturday at the 2012 United States Olympic Marathon Trial in Houston, Texas, finishing in an impressive time of 2:17:38.

The weather was perfect for the race, featuring clear skies and 40 degree temperatures at the start. Though Ball was unable to make it into the top three and earn a spot in the 2012 Olympics, he finished just 8:30 behind the winner of the race, Meb Keflezighi--a training partner of Ball for the last two years.

For Ball, the journey to the trials was an amazing one. Shortly after graduating from Biola in 2008, Ball moved up to Mammoth Lakes to train with elite coach Bob Larson to train with Keflezighi and Dan Browne in the high altitude. Currently he runs with Powerbar Team Elite and has been able to step up his his level or running to be competitive at the professional level. 

All of his training paid of in October as Ball qualified for the Olympic Trials at the Rock N Roll San Jose Half Marathon. In the race, Ball finished sixth out of nearly 6,000 runners with a time of 1:04:49 to earn his first Olympic qualifying time. To make the day even better, Ball crossed the finish line, headed straight over to his girfriend and proposed.

Ball was a six-time NAIA All-American at Biola and was a standout both in cross country and the distance track events. He was a GSAC champion in the steeplechase his senior season and earned All-America honors in cross country his final two seasons with the Eagles.

Ball had a lot of thanks to pass along after the experience, which he hopes to be a stepping stone for the future.

"Thanks to my High School Coaches Epi Torres and Joe Martinez they got me started in distance running. Then Coach Leroy Neal got me started at Biola which I learned a lot from him and made a lot of progression. And then my Coach the last couple years at Biola Jonathan Zimmerman helped me believe I could do great things and always told me "Think Big" and "Think Outside of the Box". Those two sayings have stuck with me throughout my post collegiate/professional career, so thank you Coach Jonathan Zimmerman for starting the fire for me. Thank you to my Family, Friends, Coaches, Biola Community, Fillmore Community, and everyone else for all the love and support! I could not have accomplished all I have without you all!"