Every year,  Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer for college students across the country. With the burden of classes and finals in their rearview mirrors, nothing but the taste of sweet summer freedom lies ahead. There’s a subgroup of these students, however, who replaced this prologue to summer with an epilogue to a story they hadn’t quite finished yet: the story of a year in D3 track and field. 

This past weekend’s 2024 NCAA D3 National Championship marked the pinnacle of a historic year in D3 track and field, and this year’s athletes wrote what could have been one of D3’s best epilogues of all-time. 

In total, there were 22 additions to the top-10 all-time lists and 21 first-time national champions, including all the members of Bethel’s first-time champion relay team. We took a moment to reflect on some of the highlights of the meet, but every performance was a walking story of someone’s journey to unite with the rest of D3 in Myrtle Beach this past weekend. The personal bests, the heartbreaks, the surprises, and the camaraderie with teammates and competitors were all part of making this year’s championship particularly memorable. 

Nail-biting finishes

One of the most exhilarating aspects of the weekend were some of the matchups that occurred from top to bottom in several events. With the depth of the division at an all-time high, gone are the days of standouts getting away easy with the title. Even the brightest stars of the division were challenged this weekend, making it one of the most entertaining meets we’ve seen in several years. These were some of the closest finishes of the weekend.

Brown vs. Sawyer

After national record holder Ren Brown of U Chicago and defending champion Natalia Sawyer of Buffalo State both dipped under 59 seconds in the 400-meter hurdle prelim, we knew Saturday’s final was going to be close. What we didn’t expect was for it to be four-thousandths-of-a-second close.

The pair posted what you would consider a true photo-finish after they came storming up the homestretch toward their final hurdles. Just when Brown seemed to have pulled away, Sawyer found another gear, the pair hurling themselves across the finish line. Brown even collapsed from how much she exerted in her attempt to reach the finish line first. They crossed the finish at the exact same time: 58.01. When the results appeared on the screen, it was Sawyer who proved victorious, successfully defending her title and posting the second fastest time in D3 history behind Brown’s 57.85 national record. 

It was truly a situation where iron sharpens iron. Both relied on the talent of the other to perform in the final and the result was extremely impressive. With Sawyer just a sophomore and Brown a junior, we look forward to at least one more matchup between the two hurdle stars in the future. 

A race for place (and for points)

Even when the national title has already been claimed, athletes at nationals know that every point counts. This acknowledgement provoked close finishes all-around, from first to eighth. 

One such race that was much too close to call was the race for runner-up in the women’s 800 meters. After WashU star Emma Kelley took the win in a comfortable 2:06, her teammate Danielle Schultz was sprinting up the homestretch in search of 8 more points to add to the WashU team score. She was challenged by Goucher standout Tanise Thornton-Fillyaw, who, ironically, entered the meet with the exact same seed time as Schultz. 

Their matchup proved to indeed be even, as the pair crossed the finish line at almost the exact same time. The “almost” to their finishes showed Schultz barely edging out Thornton-Fillyaw by two-thousandths of a second: 2:08.244 to 2:08.246.

WashU wasn’t the only duo to post a 1-2 punch in competition this weekend. Central steeple sensations Megan Johnson and Caroline McMartin claimed the top two spots in the steeplechase, Loras stars Grace Alley and Sara Hoskins battled for victory in the women’s high jump, and the men of Rowan dominated in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, placing first, second, and fifth all in the same final with their trio of Kwaku Nkrumah, Jason Agyemang, and Marquise Young. 

Central’s Johnson claimed her first national title in a sweeping victory that saw her with so much of a lead at 400 to go that the rest of the field was out of view. Her finishing time of 10:13.46 is the fifth fastest steeple in D3 history. While Johnson caught her breath, it was none other than her teammate McMartin who was powering up the homestretch with Geneseo’s Rachel Hirschkind in a battle for second. McMartin laid on the speed after clearing her final barrier, claiming second place by less than a second. 

In the women’s high jump, Alley and Hoskins eventually found themselves the only two remaining, their competition now somewhat resembling a practice back home in Dubuque, Iowa. They found themselves in a similar situation indoors, when the two both cleared 1.74 and went out on 1.77. Alley won on misses. This weekend, the bar result was the same (1.74 meters), but the tables turned to give Hoskins her first national title, edging out Alley on misses. The pair added 18 points to what eventually became Loras’s fourth-place team finish.

In the men’s 110-meter hurdles, Nkrumah led the way, challenged only by teammate Agyemang, who took Nkrumah to the line, almost four tenths of a second ahead of the rest of the field. Nkrumah won his first national title in a lightning fast time of 13.77, the second fastest wind-legal men’s 110-meter hurdle time in D3 history. Agyemang’s 13.80 performance comes in at No. 5 in history. In the prelim, McMurry’s Dontre Sinegal ran 13.86 to rise to No. 8 in this event. Rowans 1-2-5 punch in this event gave the Profs 22 points, the main contribution to their collection of third-place team trophy points.

Photos by Jen Reagan (left/right) & Seawon Park (center)

In total, the hurdle events saw six top-10 all-time additions this weekend, making it one of the most competitive disciplines of the weekend. 

In the men’s 5k, North Central Cardinals Connor Riss and Braden Nicholson found themselves crossing the finish line together after a massive kick from behind from Riss, who passed three people on the last lap including his teammate Nicholson. The pair both crossed the finish line in 14:18, Riss taking the advantage by just three tenths of a second. They finished 5-6 to add seven points to the NCC team score and continue the dynasty of North Central men’s distance running. 

Top-tier track matchups

There were many events this weekend that were highly anticipated purely because of the middle ground they created between competitors. Emma Kelley dropped down in distance to the 400 to take on Kenadee Wayt. Eric Gregory and Sam Blaskowski met each other in the middle in the men’s 200-meter dash. Bennett Booth-Genthe moved from the mile indoors to the 800 outdoors to face indoor champion Cael Schoemann. This middle ground is the key ingredient to a top-tier matchup, and these matchups did not disappoint. 

My personal favorite matchup as an 800-meter runner was the Kelley vs. Wayt matchup in the women’s 400. I love seeing in practice who can prevail between the 400-meter runner who can explode out of the blocks for the first 200 versus the 800-meter runner who has endurance up the homestretch. This matchup was fantastic. The best part for me was seeing Kelley be challenged by someone as accomplished and 400-savvy as Wayt. Without Wayt in that race, Kelley would not have run the winning time she did. That time? 53.76, the ninth fastest time in D3 history. Watching these two stars battle for 400-meter gold had me jumping out of my seat.

A close second favorite for me was the matchup between Pomona-Pitzer’s Bennett Booth-Genthe and Cael Schoemann in the men’s 800. Any time an athlete has a breakout race at the national meet, there’s a desire to back it up with more evidence that it wasn’t just a fluke. Such was the case for Schoemann, who, after his indoor victory came into the outdoor meet seeded only at tenth. To beat Booth-Genthe, Schoemann had to run a new PR 1:48.65, an example of the national meet magic bringing the best out of its competitors. Schoemann was a gamer in this race, and the nod has to go to Booth-Genthe as well for fighting his way to the finish and to his second race this year under 1:49.

Men’s sprinting saw their greatest matchup of the day when Gallaudet’s Eric Gregory took to the blocks in the men’s 200 with UWL’s Sam Blaskowski, the 400-meter champ versus the 100-meter champ. This 200 matchup runs several years deep. In outdoors 2022, Gregory took third behind JP Vaught and Cheick Traore and in front of Blaskowski. Indoors in 2023, the pair ran the exact same time, Blaskowski winning by thousandths of a second. This past indoor season, Blaskowski won by three-hundredths of a second ahead of Gregory. This year was no different in terms of closeness as the pair ran their final meters neck-and-neck. I found myself hopping out of my chair for a second time as the two neared the finish line. Blaskowski took the win, beating Gregory to the finish line by just 0.07 of a second. With Gregory graduating this year, I’m sure going to miss watching these two battle at the national meet.

Just when viewers thought the nail-biting finishes were over, enter WashU versus MIT in the final event of the evening: the 4x4 relay. With three hard laps on her legs already, WashU’s Kelley got the baton and set her eyes on capturing another 10 points for the Bears to close out an incredibly successful weekend. She passed three teams right out of the gate, but just as it was easier for her to chase than be chased at the beginning of the race, MIT’s Paige Cooksey held a similar sentiment at the end of her anchor leg. In a dazzling 54.69 closing lap, Cooksey nearly caught Kelley before the finish, the pair separated by just eight hundredths of a second at the finish. With this finish, MIT moved to third place as a team, narrowly missing second place by just half a point. Regardless, the Engineers returned to Cambridge with a big, shiny team trophy to show off and provided D3 with one of the most exciting closes to a late-night meet fans could have asked for. 

Field event frenzy

Field events saw several notable matchups this weekend, the most exciting of which were arguably indoor defending champion Kyle Hensley of Millikin versus Catholic’s Christian Di Nicolantonio in the men’s pole vault, Eau Claire’s Teagan Jones versus defending champion Alexis Boykin of MIT in the women’s hammer throw, and defending decathlon champion Mitch Stegeman vs. defending decathlon runner-up Jackson Anderson. 

The men’s pole vault competition sniffed an opening when Southern Maine’s Ben Drummey unfortunately had to withdraw due to injury. The competition was so stacked that the remaining jumpers had hours of jumping on their legs before the competition crowned a champion. Freshman standout Hensley came in at opening height, making attempts at 10 different heights as the night went on. 

Di Nicolantonio came in slightly fresher, opening up at 4.84 meters, but still jumped at eight different heights, almost double what the eighth place All-American in this field attempted. In the end, both went out on 5.24 meters, exhausted and battered. Di Nicolantonio came out victorious on misses to claim his first national title, making him the fifth unique men’s pole vault national champion in the past five national competitions. 

The women’s hammer throw competition was sure to be good when Eau Claire’s Teagan Jones opened up the competition with a massive PR throw on her first attempt. Her 62.48 meters is the fifth farthest throw in D3 history, meaning this competition was setting itself up well for a historic battle. Defending champ Alexis Boykin took a few attempts to respond to the massive mark posted by Jones, but respond she did when she threw a PR 62.50 meters on her third attempt, giving her the fourth farthest throw in D3 history. 

Her two-centimeter advantage would prove to be enough to secure the title after the finals concluded, but she didn’t come by it without a fight. St. Scholastica’s Lily Beneke decided to throw her way into the party as well, joining the over-60 club with her toss of 60.06 meters, the tenth farthest throw in D3 history. 

Photos by Seawon Park

In the greatest test of ability in the sport of track and field, fans saw another exhilarating matchup between multi talents Stegeman and Anderson. The competition after day 1 seemed as though Anderson would run away with the win, his near-perfect start allowing him to hold onto first place all day with the exception of one waver in the long jump. Stegeman was off to a bit of a rough start, underperforming in every event until he got to the high jump. His clearance of 1.94 meters gave him the best in the field, catapulting him up to first place. After that, he plummeted back down to seventh to end day 1 of competition. 

Day two had much of the same story: Anderson won the 110-meter hurdles and did just enough in the discus and pole vault to hold onto first. Stegeman struggled in the hurdles, pushing him down to tenth, but then started to gain momentum with a near-PR in the discus and a win in the pole vault, arguably his best event. The next event would be another that would work to Stegeman’s favor: the javelin throw. With a toss of 52.90 meters to Anderson’s 39.40, a point difference of nearly 200 points, Stegeman took the lead with one event remaining. 

The key to beating Jackson Anderson in a dec is to have a large enough lead on him before the 1500, one of his best events. Stegeman’s lead of just 52 points meant he might be in trouble. As Anderson rounded the bend for his final lap of the weekend, the taste of another national title in his mouth, it was clear he would be the winner. He turned on the jets and closed in a 66, winning the 1500 in 4:29.60. This gave him nearly a 100-point advantage over Stegeman, who took seventh in the 1500 in 4:44.51, and was just enough to capture a comfortable win. Anderson 7063, Stegeman 7020. For this first time since winter 2023, Jackson Anderson is back on top in the multis. 

Photos by Jen Reagan

Title firsts

From a viewer perspective, another aspect of the weekend that made this year’s competition so memorable were the number of title-firsts that occurred. Some were upsets, like Wilmington’s Faith Duncan taking down distance powerhouse Fiona Smith, while others marked the storybook ending to great seasons, like Simpson’s Spencer Moon’s victory in the men’s 10k. Of the 42 men’s and women’s events in the meet, 18 events saw athletes winning a national title for the first time, and that’s not including athletes who won their first title in a different event. We love a good dynasty in D3, but we also love a good surprise, too, and many of these first-time athletes surprised us in the best ways possible. As long-time D3 veterans run their final seasons, these are the names that will move into their places

Throws

Both the men’s and women’s javelin throw crowned new champions this year in Brockport’s Rebecca Heuler and Whitworth’s Cody Wheeler. Wheeler was the favorite headed into the weekend and showed everyone why when he opened up his prelim series in 65.81 meters, what would eventually become the winning mark. Heuler, on the other hand, came in seeded fifth and threw nearly a three-meter PR to secure the title over favorite Avery Decker. 

Photos by Jen Reagan

Augustana’s Charlotte Frere won her first national title in the women’s discus, in which she beat throws standout Boykin by just one centimeter. Frere threw a new PB of 50.27 on her second throw, which was enough to hold onto the title the rest of the competition.

In the men's hammer throw, Platteville’s Justin Eichler put a bow on what has been a record season. In mid-April, he set a new PR of 67.32 meters, the second farthest throw in D3 history, which saw him come into the weekend with the number one seed. Eichler battled less-than-ideal weather conditions which saw interruption of the men’s hammer competition midway through competition and still managed to come out on top, beating Wilmington duo Nathen Borgan and JJ Durr.

Jumps

Men’s and women’s pole vault produced a pair of national titles for two competitors who have been in the mix time and time again. Yasmin Ruff has competed in six nationals pole vault competitions. Last year outdoors she was sixth and this year indoors she was second. This time, she finally claimed the first spot as her own, beating a stacked field which included three different pole vault national champions. Christian Di Nicolantonio has competed in five national pole vault competitions, going from no height to national champion in just one year. 

Photos by Jen Reagan (left) & Aaron Tries (right)

In fact, all the vertical jumps events saw new faces on the top of the podium this year, as men’s high jump crowned MIT’s Jackson Bliey for the first time and women’s high jump crowned Sara Hoskins. Bliey has been a steady force at the national meet, not only qualifying for every national meet since his freshman year, but finishing in the top eight at every competition. Now, as just a sophomore, he is a D3 national champion, with a bright future of many more trophies ahead of him. Hoskins, on the other hand, has been somewhat of a late bloomer. She just made her first national meet indoors, in which she placed second, and now, in only her second NCAA meet, is a national champion. Why mess around with “national qualifier” when you can have “national champion” next to your name?

This section of the article is a Rainah Dunham appreciation post. You may recognize her name as the NCAA D3 2019 triple jump runner-up while competing for Metro region Gwynedd-Mercy. She set a new PR of 12.45 meters that year to take silver. After the 2019 season, Dunham took a hiatus from track and field, resurfacing last indoor season with a brand new Ursinus jersey. It took her some time to get back to her old form, but eventually Dunham made it back to a national meet. The 2024 indoor championships was her first national competition since 2019. She placed seventh. 

Fast forward to this weekend and Dunham is now in the best shape of her life. She set two massive new personal bests in both the long jump and the triple jump to win her first national title and post a runner-up finish in the same weekend. Her 12.75-meter leap in the triple jump is the sixth farthest jump in D3 history. Man, is it good to have Rainah Dunham back!

Another name who hopped, skipped, and jumped into the record books this past weekend was Rochester’s Cole Goodman. After two runner-up finishes in this event, Goodman finally got his national title, and set a new personal best along the way. His 15.76-meter leap is now the sixth farthest in D3 history. 

Hurdles

If there were an award for most impressive event group of the weekend, it might have to be the hurdles. This event saw six additions to the top-10 lists and three new first-time national champions. Rowan’s Nkrumah ran his way into history with his 110-meter hurdle winning time of 13.77, the second fastest time in D3 history. In the prelim, Nkrumah ran 13.73 under illegal wind (+2.3), which is third on the all-conditions list. Though this was Nkrumah’s first national title, his stellar weekend foreshadows that it might not be his last. 

Laura Mathews is a name you’ve heard time and time again at the national meet. Before this weekend, she had seven first-team All-American honors, including her runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash indoors. But one thing has always been missing: a national title. Her dreams came true this weekend when she ran her way to her very first title in the 100-meter hurdles. Her winning time of 13.67 is the fourth fastest time in D3 history. Oh yeah, and she did all of this while also competing in the heptathlon, which she placed fifth in. What a weekend for Mathews!

Photos by Jen Reagan

Perhaps one of the most memorable hurdle races of the weekend was the men’s 400-meter hurdles. Competing at the national meet is all about making your environment feel familiar, like any other track meet. When you’ve been to a national meet before, there are certain aspects of the national meet that start to feel familiar, like having eight people in the final and certain key players being up front. All of that seemed to get thrown out of the window in the men’s 400-meter hurdles when Trine’s Jake Gladieux was a last-minute scratch to the final and Geneseo’s Lance Jensen took a hard hit to the hurdle on the home stretch. 

Such chaos appeared to throw off Dubuque’s JoJo Frost when he found himself alone up front in the final meters of the race. He stuttered for a moment, but then, a light bulb flicked on and his winning instincts kicked in. He hard-pressed to the finish and found himself a national champion for the very first time. Looking back on the race, perhaps he should have expected it. He was the runner-up in this event in 2022, after all. 

Distance

The distance events have long been dominated by the same names: Kassie Parker, Alex Phillip, Ethan Gregg, Fiona Smith, Christian Patzka. That’s why it came as somewhat of a surprise when new names took the top of the podium in some of these events this weekend. The men’s 10k crowned Spencer Moon of Simpson its champion. Moon has been to ten national championships, including cross country, but before this weekend, only held two All-American honors. He’s had plenty of gutsy races at this level, but none quite produced the outcome he desired. 

This year, Moon’s performance took new heights. He’s fifth all-time in the men’s 5k and 20th all-time in the men’s 10k. His confidence was at an all-time high. That’s why it sent a smile across the nation to see Moon finally rewarded for all of his attempts at glory. The Simpson star hung on to the lead group for 24 laps of the men’s 10k before finally accelerating into his victory lap. His patience, both over 24 laps and over five years of college running, finally paid off. 

The women’s 5k saw a new victor in Wilmington break-out star Faith Duncan. Often when there’s a name as big as Fiona Smith in a race like nationals, the field tends to let her do her thing. Duncan saw an opportunity, however, and seized it for her own. She stuck in the front pack for the entirety of the race and hung onto Smith even when she tried to pull away from the field. Her grit paid off as eventually it was Duncan who would make her own move, running away from Smith and all of the women’s 5k toward her very first national title. 

Photos by Jen Reagan

Central College has established a name for themselves in the steeple all season long with their trio of Megan Johnson, Caroline McMartin, and Addy Parrott. That’s why it came as no surprise to see a pack of red Central jerseys up front in the women’s steeplechase final on Friday. The three ran their way toward first-team All-American honors, led by a fearless Johnson, who took over the lead at 800 meters to go. With names in this competition like Aubrie Fisher and Rachel Hirschkind, it would have been easy to be intimidated, but Johnson ran the race with her own rhythm, being rewarded in the form of her first national title. Her 10:13.46 is the fifth fastest steeple in D3 history. 

Photos by Jen Reagan

One of the most surprising victories of the weekend came out of the women’s 1500-meter dash, which crowned freshman standout at Vassar Haley Schoenegge. What was most impressive wasn’t necessarily the fact that Schoenegge won (she was certainly one of the favorites in the field) but more so how she did it. In a field of seasoned veterans, Schoenegge decided to lead from the gun. Usually when a freshman decides to lead, it doesn’t go well, ending in their coach cursing under their breath and the athlete being shot out the back when the race finally shifts momentum. This was not the case for Schoenegge, however. 

Schoenegge maintained her composure and dictated the rhythm of the race from start to finish. Eventually, she started to pull away, steadily dropping the pace to see just how fast she could run. With no one on her shoulder, her race turned into a simple test of her body’s ability. The result was a nine-second win and the ninth fastest time in D3 history. That’s impressive for anyone, let alone a freshman at nationals. Hats off to you, Haley Schoenegge. 

Relays

A double first-time national title transpired in the men’s 4x400-meter relay this weekend. Not only was Bethel’s victory a first-time title for each of Grant Nelson, Josh Sampson, Joel Smith, and Jacob Parent, but it was a first time victory for Bethel, in any event on the men’s side. 

Part of what made Bethel’s victory so special was who was behind the scenes in orchestrating it. UWL legend Andrew Rock, Olympic gold medalist and 400-meter D3 national record holder, is the Director of Track and Field at Bethel. His UWL 4x4 team is on the D3 all-time list with the third fastest time in history at 3:07.78. Saturday night, during the meet’s last event, Rock got to witness his team at Bethel come within two tenths of a second to that time, while passing his alma mater UWL on the final lap to claim the win. 

Somebody ask the Bethel squad if Coach’s first words were “congrats” or “sorry boys, still got it.”

Photos by Jen Reagan

Building a dynasty

There are so many ways to build a legacy in D3 track and field. For some, it’s taking down national records, for others it’s accumulating titles and trophies, and for others still it’s a combination of both. There were several athletes this weekend who found their own ways to leave their mark on the division. 

One such dynasty that I was super impressed with this weekend was that of Emma Kelley. Not only has her career arc been incredible to follow (she’s dropped 10 seconds off of her 800 from freshman year, going from 2:12 to 2:02 and from 9th in the NCAA to 1st), but she has embraced challenges in ways that are completely her own along the way. 

When you’re one of the top runners in the division and everyone around you is breaking national records, it’s easy to get fixated on that goal. Kelley has found a way to make more than one goal of her performances and see just how high she can climb as a result. Her best times in the 800 have been ones that she has completely soloed. She’s also seen success in off-events. In the regular season this year, she ran impressive personal bests in the 1500 (4:22.76) and the 400 (54.18), becoming one of the top seeds in both. When an opportunity presented itself for her to help score 30 points for her team at the national meet, she agreed, opting to step out of her comfort zone and run the open 400 to see just what she could do. 

Five women in D3 history have successfully pulled off the 1500/800 double. Four women, including Kelley and Oshkosh’s Christy Cazzola out-of-season, have dipped under 2:03 in the 800. Though both are extremely impressive feats and ones Kelley is more than capable of replicating, they’re somewhat expected of middle distance stars. But how many women have won the 400, the 800, and the 4x4 in D3 history? Just two: UMass Boston legend Genesia Eddins and now, Emma Kelley. The courageousness Kelley employed to carve her own path is what makes her particularly special in the history books.

Photos by Jen Reagan (left) & Seawon Park (right)

And while we’re on the topic of earning three national trophies in the same meet, UWL sprint stars Lauren Jarrett and Sam Blaskowski BOTH accomplished this feat over the weekend, sweeping the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay titles. Jarrett won her first national title indoors, taking the women’s 60-meter dash crown, and is now running on a different level. She quadrupled her national titles in just one day. Blaskowski, continues his rampage and brings his national title up to nine after this weekend, securing a near-national record along the way with his 20.55-second prelim in the 200-meter dash.

Photos by Jen Reagan

The closest a male/female sprints duo ever got to sweeping all three of these events in the same championship was in the late 90’s, when Lincoln sprint powerhouses Brandon Jones and Shawna Hardy were on the same team. Though both had successfully pulled off the triple victory (Hardy in ‘96 and Jones in ‘92 and ‘95), they never did it in the same year, making Jarrett and Blaskowski the first. Make way, Lincoln, there’s a new sprints powerhouse in town and its UW-La Crosse. 

(Okay, maybe they’re not entirely new. UWL men did win their 36th men’s team national title this past weekend after all. Talk about a legacy.)

Blaskowski and Jarrett aren’t the only current sprinting powerhouses in D3. I’m going to throw out a number here: 22. It’s the number of All-American honors that Mount Union’s Kenadee Wayt has accumulated in her D3 career. She broke the Mount Union school record for most All-American honors, which doesn’t seem that significant until you realize that the previous record belonged to jumping star Shawn Watson, who racked up an astonishing 18 honors, currently tied for the most All-American honors in men’s D3 history. Wayt’s total of 22 makes her the fourth most decorated athlete in D3 history behind a list of D3 legends: Kim Oden (25), Sheila Trice (24), and Vera Stenhouse (23). 

This past weekend, Wayt loaded up in events, running the 100, 200, 400, and 4x4 and left South Caroline with four more trophies. Though Wayt did not win any national titles this championship, she posted two runner-up finishes, one in the 400 and one in the 200, just 90 minutes apart with the 100-meter final 20 minutes in. She also split a 54.4 on the end of Mount’s 4x4 just over an hour after her 200-meter final. For as tired as Wayt probably was at the end of most national championships, her consistency proved to be worth it in the form of a whopping 22 All-American trophies.

The other athlete who has left an impressive legacy in D3 is Gallaudet’s Eric Gregory. I interviewed Gregory after his first national title in 2022, when he shocked the country with his 46.19 win over Ramapo’s Cheick Traore in the men’s 400, and you could tell he had given that race his all. It took him almost 30 minutes to catch his breath. His coach mentioned that despite having just won his first national title, Gregory hadn’t come close to his full potential yet. He could not have been more right. Fast forward two years and Gregory is now the three-times defending men’s 400-meter national champion and holds the second fastest 400-meter time in D3 history behind UWL legend and Olympic gold medalist Andrew Rock. 

His 45.73 that he ran in the final is under the Olympic Trials minimum qualifying mark of 46.0. Perhaps there’s still even more room for Gregory to grow when he’s put in a race where he’s truly challenged. The freshman Alexander Rhodes of Puget Sound ran a bold race to try to overthrow Gregory, but Gregory’s 400-meter talent and savviness could not be beat. We’ll have to wait and see what the Gallaudet graduate’s next moves are, but he leaves D3 a much faster place than when he found it, becoming one of the D3 greats to go down in history. 

A section about dynasties would be incomplete without mentioning the jumping dynasty of Johns Hopkins’s Victoria Kadiri. Kadiri added a fifth triple jump national title to her resume this past weekend when she posted her third farthest jump, 13.04 meters. This title brings Kadiri’s total title count up to nine. Not only is the quantity of Kadiri’s dominance impressive, but the quality of her jumping has made her the best triple jumper in D3 history. Her 13.43-meter national record is the farthest anyone in the division has jumped in this event by almost half a meter. 

The distance world must also give a nod to two current distance legends who took to the track this weekend. Both follow up some pretty big names in Loras’s Kassie Parker and JCU’s Alex Phillip. Just when you thought we’d seen the best of D3 distance, in steps Saint Benedict’s Fiona Smith and Whitewater’s Christian Patzka (and La Crosse’s Ethan Gregg, who unfortunately was out this weekend due to injury). 

Smith suffered her first national loss all year when Wilmington’s Faith Duncan captured the 5k victory Saturday night. Though this loss was shocking, this was only the case because of the name Fiona Smith has built for herself: the first woman to go under 20 minutes in a national cross country 6k, the second fastest 10k runner all-time, the fourth fastest 5k runner all-time. Fiona Smith is one of the best distance runners D3 has ever seen. In the current state of D3 with significantly deeper fields across all events, it’s hard to keep a streak like Smith’s alive, and it’s incredibly impressive that she did for so long. The name “Smith” is one that future generations will be chasing for years and years to come. 

Photos by Jen Reagan

Patzka, who has had his up-and-down moments at the national meet, showed that he might be in the best shape of his life when he won back-to-back titles in the steeple and 5k and did so in dominating fashion. When it was time for the Whitewater star to kick, you would have thought he was running the mile instead. He closed his last 800 of his steeple in 2:08. His last 1200 of his 5k was 3:05 (that’s 4:06 mile pace for those of you keeping track). No one could even attempt to hang with Patzka this weekend. Such has been the dynasty he has left on D3. He’s the No. 2 fastest steeplechaser and 5k runner in D3 history, a ten-time track and field All-American, and a five-time track and field national champion.  Those are some big stats to build over a career. 

Feel-good stories

One of the best (and, in some cases, worst) parts about the national meet is the emotion that surrounds the year’s crown meet in track and field. There were a few storylines this weekend that might have gotten overlooked in all of the hubbub, but they are the stories that define what it means to compete at the national championship. They are the feel-good stories of adversities overcome on the journey to Myrtle Beach.

One such story was the story of UWL’s Grant Matthai. If you tuned in to the broadcast, you may have heard Ethan Gregg explaining that Matthai had been cross training for weeks to try to keep fitness and health up to compete at nationals. Off of cross training alone, Matthai clawed his way to a seventh-place All-American finish in the men’s 5k to add to his two All-American honors from indoors. Matthai finished fifth indoors, a place he held onto this past weekend until one lap to go. Maybe Parker Valby is onto something. 

Another name who sneered in the face of adversity this past weekend was WPI’s Grace Hadley.  Hadley had been having the best year of her career, running 2:06, 15:56, and 4:17, only to have the opportunity to showcase this fitness at nationals stripped from her in the final hours before the 1500-meter prelim. Per her coach’s Twitter account, Hadley came down with a case of food poisoning that took her out of the 1500-meter prelim, thus foregoing her chance at gold in what was her highest-seeded event. Her spot on the 5k start line two days later was uncertain. Fast forward to Saturday and the nation was excited to see Hadley line up for the 12.5-lap race, albeit uncertain as to how the tumultuous past few days had affected her. Once the gun went off, we had no indication that the WPI star had been rattled by her circumstances, as she went straight to the front, a woman on a mission. 

In the excitement of Faith Duncan’s upset victory, many overlooked the fact that Hadley threw down a monster kick in the women’s 5k’s final lap to overtake Fiona Smith and place second in this event…48 hours after having food poisoning!

Photos by Jen Reagan

The story of the weekend that really tugged at everyone’s heartstrings was Lynchburg’s Sam Llaneza’a 1500-meter win. Llaneza had been having his best season of running yet, posting PR’s in the 800, 1500, and 5k. His 3:43.69 in the 1500 is the ninth fastest time in D3 history and gave him the number one seed headed into the weekend. Llaneza ran like that title couldn’t belong to anyone else. He led from the gun, pressed when he was challenged, and kicked like he maybe never had before. When he crossed the finish line in first place, he pointed to the sky, an homage to his late teammate and co-DMR-national champion Frank Csorba, who passed unexpectedly midway through the season.

As Llaneza took in the sensation of victory, he kissed the ribbon pinned to his jersey, adorned with the initials F.C. in Sharpie and ran to hug his Lynchburg community. As they pulled Llaneza into a hug, they shared a moment from which only they could feel the full weight of their joy. It was a special moment for Llaneza, and it was a special moment for all of the Lynchburg community. 

As the athletes who competed this weekend begin their merge with their fellow non-running classmates, leaning into the full embrace of summer, they celebrate a year of hard work, achievement, and memories. Every athlete present made the 2024 D3 NCAA Championship special. Some will continue racing, others will move into working life, and some return next year, ready to create their own legacies. They have large shoes to fill, but that’s what every generation has said about the proceeding. For it’s the members of history who inspire the current generations to achieve. It’s those who look back on their glory days who make way for others to create glory days of their own.