NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships – Men's 3,000 meter steeplechase
This is a list of the NCAA outdoor champions in the 3000 meters steeplechase. Hand timing was used until 1973, starting in 1974 fully automatic timing was used.Champions
;Key:
| Year | Name, | Team | Time |
| 1948 | Browning Ross | Villanova | 09:25.7 |
| 1949 | | | - |
| 1950 | | | - |
| 1951 | | | - |
| 1952 | Bob McMullen | San Jose St | 09:31.2 |
| 1953 | Patrick Wagner | Notre Dame | - |
| 1954 | Patrick Wagner | Notre Dame | - |
| 1955 | Patrick Wagner | Notre Dame | - |
| 1956 | Henry Kennedy | Michigan St | 09:16.5 |
| 1957 | not held | | - |
| 1958 | not held | | - |
| 1959 | John Macy | Houston | 09:19.1 |
| 1960 | Charley Clark | San Jose St | 09:02.1 |
| 1961 | John Lawler | Abilene Christian | 09:01.1 |
| 1962 | Pat Traynor | Villanova | 08:48.6 |
| 1963 | Vic Zwolak | Villanova | 9:10.1A |
| 1964 | Vic Zwolak | Villanova | 08:42.0 |
| 1965 | Bruce Mortenson | Oregon | 09:00.8 |
| 1966 | Bob Richards | Brigham Young | 08:51.6 |
| 1967 | Chris McCubbins | Oklahoma St | 8:51.4A |
| 1968 | Kerry Pearce | UTEP | 08:50.8 |
| 1969 | Jim Barkley | Oregon St | 08:44.4 |
| 1970 | Sidney Sink | Bowling Green | 08:40.9 |
| 1971 | Sidney Sink | Bowling Green | 08:30.9 |
| 1972 | Joe Lucas | Georgetown | 08:30.1 |
| 1973 | Doug Brown | Tennessee | 08:28.1 |
| 1974 | Doug Brown | Tennessee | 08:35.9 |
| 1975 | James Munyala | UTEP | 8:47.93A |
| 1976 | James Munyala | UTEP | 08:24.9 |
| 1977 | James Munyala | UTEP | 08:29.5 |
| 1978 | Henry Rono | Wash St | 08:12.4 |
| 1979 | Henry Rono | Wash St | 08:17.9 |
| 1980 | Randy Jackson | Wisconsin | 08:22.8 |
| 1981 | Solomon Chebor | FDU-Teaneck | 08:23.3 |
| 1982 | Richard Tuwei | Wash St | 8:42.73A |
| 1983 | Brian Diemer | Michigan | 08:27.0 |
| 1984 | Farley Gerber | Weber St | 08:19.3 |
| 1985 | Peter Koech | Wash St | 08:19.8 |
| 1986 | Julius Korir | Wash St | 08:21.2 |
| 1987 | Dan Nelson | Oregon | 08:35.4 |
| 1988 | Karl Van Calcar | Oregon St | 08:32.4 |
| 1989 | Tom Nohilly | Florida | 8:45.24A |
| 1990 | Mark Croghan | Ohio St | 08:36.2 |
| 1991 | Mark Croghan | Ohio St | 08:22.3 |
| 1992 | Marc Davis | Arizona | 08:36.8 |
| 1993 | Donovan Bergstrom | Wisconsin | 08:29.1 |
| 1994 | Jim Svenøy | UTEP | 08:41.2 |
| 1995 | Jim Svenøy | UTEP | 08:21.5 |
| 1996 | Dmitriy Drozdov | Iowa St | 08:32.0 |
| 1997 | Pascal Dobert | Wisconsin | 08:31.7 |
| 1998 | Matt Kerr | Arkansas | 08:37.0 |
| 1999 | Matt Kerr | Arkansas | 08:44.3 |
| 2000 | Tim Broe | Alabama | 08:39.0 |
| 2001 | Daniel Lincoln | Arkansas | 08:42.3 |
| 2002 | Daniel Lincoln | Arkansas | 08:22.3 |
| 2003 | Daniel Lincoln | Arkansas | 08:26.6 |
| 2004 | Jordan Desilets | Eastern Mich | 08:42.6 |
| 2005 | Mircea Bogdan | UTEP | 08:27.3 |
| 2006 | Joshua McAdams | Brigham Young | 08:34.1 |
| 2007 | Barnabas Kirui | Ole Miss | 08:20.38 |
| 2008 | Kyle Alcorn | Arizona State | 8:28.26 |
| 2009 | Kyle Perry | BYU | 8:29.24 |
| 2010 | Matt Hughes | Louisville | 8:34.18 |
| 2011 | Matt Hughes | Louisville | 8:24.87 |
| 2012 | Donn Cabral | Princeton | 8:35.44 |
| 2013 | Anthony Rotich | UTEP | 8:21.19 |
| 2014 | Anthony Rotich | UTEP | 8:32.21 |
| 2015 | Anthony Rotich | UTEP | 8:33.90 |
| 2016 | Mason Ferlic | Michigan | 8:27.16 |
| 2017 | Edwin Kibichiy | Louisville | 8:28.40 |
