Port of Spain, Trinidad - Appalachian State's Sean Soderman placed second in the 3000m steeplechase at this weekend's Pan-Am Junior Games in Trinidad and Tabago.

Soderman, who captured a silver-medal, turned in a time of 9:10:75, five seconds behind gold medalist Mattias Wolter of Canada. Team USA's other representative in the 3000m steeplechase, Joe Whelan, placed seventh with a time of 9:24:53.

Soderman took the lead with five laps remaining and fought hard to keep it, battling Wolter, but with 300m to go could not hold off the hard charging Wolter down the stretch.

The Charlotte native will enter his sophomore season at ASU in the fall and is expected to be one of the Mountaineers' top runners in 2009, as they vie for their fifth consecutive SoCon cross country title.