NEW YORK - Columbia track & field and cross country alum Kyle Merber CC'12 has been selected to represent the United States in the NACAC U-23 Championships, which will be held July 6-8 in Guanajuato, Mexico.

NACAC stands for North American, Central American and Caribbean. The NACAC U-23 Championships are held every two years and feature top athletes under the age of 23 from all three regions.  The NACAC is one of six area associations of the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF). This year's event marks the third time it will be held in Mexico.

Merber will represent the United States in the men's 1,500m. He selection to the U.S. team comes as no surprise as he set a new American collegiate record in the 1,500m at the Swarthmore College Last Chance Meet on May 14, clocking a time of 3:35.59. That time was the second-fastest collegiate time ever, the second-fastest U.S. time this year and the 15th-fastest time in the world this year.  He is the only member of the U.S. team to hail from an Ivy League school.

Merber and fellow Columbia alums Delilah DiCrescenzo CC'05 and Liam Boylan-Pett CC '08 will compete at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, which will be held June 21-July 1 at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Merber had an incredible Columbia career from 2008-12. He was a part of 10 Ivy League titles and owns three Ivy League records. Earlier this month he was named the USTFCCCA's 2012 Northeast Region Men's Track Athlete of the Year.

The Dix Hills, N.Y., native capped his Lions career with a trip to the NCAA Championships earlier this month where he earned USTFCCCA Honorable Mention All-America honors in the men's 1,500m.

The 2011-12 school year was a remarkable senior campaign for Merber. In addition to setting the new American collegiate record in the 1,500m, Merber was an Ivy League champion in the 1,500m and the 4x800m relay, running the third leg of a quartet that set a conference record with a time of 7:20.53.

During the 2012 indoor track season, Merber clocked the second sub-four-minute mile of his career (3:59.44) at the Columbia Last Chance Meet in The Armory. He was also won titles in the mile and the distance medley relay at the 2012 Ivy League Heptagonal Indoor Championships.

In the fall of 2011, Merber had a strong cross country season, leading the Columbia men to their first-ever team appearance at the NCAA Championships. He also took second place in the unbelievable snow at the Ivy League Heptagonal Cross Country Championships.