2025 D3 Indoor Track and Field National Recap

In what felt like a blink of an eye, another indoor D3 nationals meet has come and gone, but the titles, honors, and memories earned and made will last a lifetime. This year, many new names took front stage. There were 16 first-time individual national champions out of the 30 open events, igniting the flame for a new generation of D3 talent.

Every athlete who walked through the doors of the Golisano Training Center in Rochester came in with a story and we hope to highlight some of them through this look back at the 2025 championships.

Firsts

This weekend marked a genesis for many in D3, including first-time champions, first-time All-Americans, and first-time qualifiers. There were 16 individual first-time national champions this past weekend, meaning that over half of the open events that were contested saw a new champion this year. Not only does this point to a new generation of talent, but it shows that the current climate of D3 is becoming much more competitive, as many of the long-standing favorites surrendered their crowns.

Men’s field events saw the largest shake-ups with five out of the seven field events, including the heptathlon, crowning a new first-time national champion:

Weight Throw - JJ Durr - Wilmington
Pole Vault - Aiden Anderson - St. Norbert
Heptathlon - Jacob Balcome - UW-River Falls
Shot Put - Adam Strouf - UW-Eau Claire
Triple Jump - Amarian Hughes - Cortland St.

After that, men’s distance events saw the second biggest change in champions. A discipline long dominated by standout names like Alex Phillip, Ethan Gregg, Ryan Wilson, and Christian Patzka, a new era of champions took the spotlight in three out of the four distance events:

5k - Grant Matthai - UWL
Mile - Nick Lyndaker - St. Lawrence
3k - Braden Nicholson - North Central

Sprints and hurdles events saw half of their events overtaken by new champions, particularly the 60 meter hurdles and the 400 meters on both sides:

Men’s 60mH - Jason Agyemang - Rowan
Women’s 60mH - Aryianna Garceau -UMass Boston
Men’s 400m - Alex Rhodes - Puget Sound
Women’s 400m - Brynn Mooney - SUNY G

The remaining sprinting events were dominated by UW-La Crosse standout sprints duo Lauren Jarrett and Sam Blaskowski, both of whom successfully defended their titles. Repeat champions were responsible for low turnover in other event areas as well. Faith Duncan and Haley Schoenegge continued their streaks in women’s distance events, and Alexis Boykin, Emma Seipel, and Yasmin Ruff showed that they cannot be stopped in the field events. These two disciplines–women’s distance running and women’s field–proved to be the hardest to break through this weekend.

Boykin’s dominance in the throws racked up an impressive 20 points for MIT, who saw a program first national title in indoor track and field after their victory this weekend. This follows their title in women’s cross country this past fall, which marked the first national title for MIT across all women’s sports.

The only women’s distance event that saw a new first-time champion was the women’s 800 meters, following the graduation of long-standing 800-meter force and indoor national record holder Emma Kelley of WashU. This year, Elizabethtown’s Kelty Oaster took the title in an impressive 2:07.70. She was followed closely by runner-up Lina Maatouk of Augustana, who was the only other athlete to finish under 2:08 in 2:07.85. It was the first appearance at an indoor national meet for both competitors and, in Maatouk’s case, the first appearance at any national meet. In fact, the women’s i800 in particular saw five first-time indoor 800 meter finalists out of the eight who advanced:

Oaster
Maatouk

5. Johns Hopkins’s Annie Huang

7. Mount Union’s Mary Mason

8. Williams’s Annika Paluska

Though some came to the indoor national meet for the first and last times in their collegiate careers, a storied ending to a long career, many came as first-timers to gain valuable experience for the years to come. Whether their first times were successful, like for Oaster and Maatouk, or left something to be desired, all athletes added lasting memories and lessons to their college track and field arsenals.

Dynasties

For those of whom have already experienced the magic of winning a first national title or All-American honor, the national meet is a time to build a dynasty. Several athletes and programs cemented themselves into the D3 history books this weekend by adding more accolades to their names.

The Sam Blaskowski Era

UW-La Crosse’s Sam Blaskowski has the most indoor All-American honors than any men’s track athlete in D3 history. He has earned All-American in both short sprinting events for four years in a row, the first to ever do so, and was also a long jump All-American his freshman year, bringing his total count up to nine. Only St. Thomas’s Leonard Jones, whose honors are all in field events, has won more All-Americans at ten total. No track athlete has earned as many as Blaskowski indoors.

Blaskowski also has the opportunity to surpass Salisbury’s Luke Campbell for most national titles in D3 history. After this weekend, Blaskowski’s individual title count is up to nine, including five indoor titles. Campbell earned ten, meaning any titles Blaskowski wins in the outdoor season could make him the most decorated men’s track and field athlete in history.

This weekend, he contributed 20 points to La Crosse’s 84-point victory, the highest indoor point total in history. He was joined in scoring by national champions Cael Schoemann in the 800 (Schoemann’s third consecutive 800m title created a dynasty of his own) and Grant Matthai in the 5k, as well as athletes in all but five events. In the 5k, their three All-American finishes for the second year in a row makes UWL the first program to accomplish this feat. The Eagles won their third straight indoor team title and 21st in indoor program history. Their dynasty is deeply rooted, but it is safe to say that this is the deepest team La Crosse has ever had.

Distance dynasty

UW-Whitewater’s Christian Patzka had a quieter national meet than he has in the past following his cross country national title in the fall, but his accomplishments in the 5k and 3k have made him one of the most accomplished men’s distance runners in D3 history. After finishing third in the 5k and fifth in the 3k this past weekend, Patzka now leads men’s distance runners for the most indoor All-Americans ever at seven, surpassing Mount Union’s David Cooper, North Central’s Dhruvil Patel, and Haverford’s Karl Paranya, all of whom own six total. He also became just the second athlete in history to earn four consecutive All-American honors in the indoor 5k. Along with teammate Gunner Schlender, the duo is the first in history to run in the nationals indoor 5k together four years in a row. (Thanks, Coach Mills for the stats!)

Another legendary distance program that resurfaced this weekend was that of North Central. Long acknowledged as one of the best men’s distance programs in D3 history, the Cardinals have some deep history. Across all three seasons of sports, they’ve won 30 team national titles. In track and field, they’ve had 32 men’s national champions, more than half of which were in distance events. This weekend, Braden Nicholson continued the legacy with his gutsy 3k victory. This marks the first time since 2019 that a Cardinal has been atop a men’s indoor distance podium and the first time since 2014 that a North Central Athlete has won the 3k.

Nicholson did not compete in the cross country season this past fall, but returned to set a new personal best of 8:07.30 in the 3k in January. His winning time of 8:07.39 narrowly missed his PR.

Lauren Jarrett, sprints sensation

UW-La Crosse’s Lauren Jarrett added her fourth and fifth individual national titles and eighth and ninth individual All-American honors to her resume this past weekend. Her stellar 23.95 in the 200-meter final made her the second woman in D3 to run under 24 in an indoor 200 and the first to do so on a flat 200-meter track.

Earlier this season at the USATF Indoor Championships, Jarrett ran 7.29 to break her own D3 national record, a time she replicated in the prelims this past weekend. She won the final handily in a near-best 7.31, her third fastest time ever. Jarrett has completely rewritten the women’s 60 meter record book and now owns the top six marks in this event, far surpassing Wadeline Jonathas, 4x400-meter U.S. Olympic gold medalist, who previously held the record at 7.40.

So far, Wheaton’s Amber James owns the highest number of purely sprinting All-American honors with eight 400m, four 200m, and two 55m honors, but Carthage’s Muffy Israel and Lincoln’s Alondra Woodard are tied for the highest number of short sprinting accolades at 11 each. With three more seasons of track and field left, Jarrett is well on her way to landing as one of the most decorated D3 sprinters of all time.

Alexis Boykin makes throws history

Another name that will go down in the D3 history books as one of the greatest of all time is MIT’s Alexis Boykin. With the victory of both the shot put and weight throw this past weekend, Boykin brings her national title count up to seven and her All-American count up to 13. Her seven national titles make her the second winningest throws athlete behind the legendary Robyn Jaroski of UW-Oshkosh, and her 13 All-Americans make her one of seven women to earn 13 or more All-American honors in the throwing events with one outdoor season to go.

Jarocki holds the highest number of titles and All-American honors of any women’s throwing athlete at 10 and 17, respectively. Last spring, Boykin took first in the shot put and hammer throw and second in the discus throw. A title in all three events this spring would tie her with Jarocki, and a top-8 finish in each would put her tied for second most honors with Bates’s Keelin Godsey and Oshkosh’s Missy Oleson (though if Boykin wanted to hop in the javelin throw as well, we would all love to cheer her on toward 17!)

Regardless of what happens, the name Alexis Boykin is one throwers and all of D3 will be talking about for years to come.

Jump streaks

Both the men’s and women’s long jump crowned the same victor from last year as Oshkosh’s Josh Rivers and Loras’s Emma Seipel successfully defended their indoor titles. With these wins, the duo solidifies their names as some of the best jumpers in history. Seipel’s season best jump of 6.11 meters is the fifth farthest in D3 history. She won the long jump title by three centimeters, but what impressed even more this weekend out of Seipel was her additional success on the track. She showed her wheels in the short sprints, advancing to the finals in both events. Seipel was sixth overall in the 60-meter dash and fourth overall in the 200-meter dash, leaving Rochester with three additional All-American honors. This brings her total All-American count up to eight including relays.

Rivers is another athlete who has been fun to follow this season. He kicked off the early season with what was arguably one of the most impressive D3 performances of the entire season when he shattered the long jump national record by a colossal 25 centimeters, becoming the first D3 athlete in history to clear over eight meters. His 8.13 meter jump converts to 26 feet and 8.25 inches. In the middle of the season, Rivers traveled to the USATF Indoor Championships in New York to place fifth overall with his leap of 7.96 meters, his second mark of the year over the previous national record.

It came as no surprise that Rivers took the long jump title this weekend, his 7.81 meters beating runner-up Henry Brandstadter of Emory by over 30 centimeters. Of the four nationals long jump competitions Rivers has competed in, he’s earned All-American in all four and won three out of the four. With five marks within the top four in men’s long jump history, Rivers goes down a D3 long jump legend.

New talents

In case you missed it, there were 18 true freshmen who became first team All-Americans this past weekend, pointing toward a new era of D3 talent. By becoming All-Americans in their first college track and field national meet, these individuals have the opportunity to accomplish something only 33 men and 56 women in D3 have ever pulled off: earning four All-American honors in indoor track and field.

The highest placing freshman was Tufts’s Elysse Cumberland, who won the women’s triple jump outright. Cumberland came in as the tenth seed with her leap of 12.01 meters and left as a national champion with a big new personal best of 12.60 meters.

Cumberland surpassed her seeded mark on three separate jumps and only won the national title by a single centimeter on her final jump. With this victory, Cumberland has the extra opportunity to become one of just three women in D3 history to win four indoor national titles. Brandeis’s Eleena Zhelezov accomplished this in the same event, the triple jump, and Wheaton’s Amber James won four titles in the 400 meter dash.

Three freshmen took runner-up in their respective events: Carnegie Mellon’s Luke Freimanis in the heptathlon, Rowan’s Jamir Brown in the 60 meter hurdles, and Williams’s Kate Tuttle in the mile. Tuttle and Freimanis both set massive personal bests en route to runner-up. Tuttle ran 4:48.89, the No. 16 fastest time in D3 history and one of the fastest times ever run on a flat 200-meter track in this event. Freimanis came in ranked third in the heptathlon with his score of 5092, but added an extra 69 points to his personal best to take second.

Brown was the only one who did not leave Rochester with a PR, but this feat is pretty hard to pull off when you’re the national record holder! In an incredible run in early December, Brown broke Salisbury’s Luke Campbell’s 11-year-old 60 meter hurdle record, and capped his rookie season off with a runner-up finish to none other than his teammate Jason Agyemang.

Rowan scored 27 points in the hurdles, which would have ranked fourth in the team scores on its own, but five additional points from their 4x4 relay helped the Profs snag a third place team trophy. With recruits like Brown coming in, Rowan is a team that will be on top for many years to come.

Other freshmen with top All-American finishes were:

Chloe Selmer (Elmhurst) - Women’s Long Jump - 8th
Gavin Dunn (Hiram) - Men’s Long Jump - 4th
Lincoln Begin (UWW) - Men’s Long Jump - 7th
Sarai Sealy (Brandeis) - Women’s Triple Jump - 5th
Jamarcus Brown (Lynchburg) - Men’s High Jump - 6th
Alex Huynh (Bridgewater State) - Men’s High Jump - 8th
Hiven Biffot (Montclair State) - Men’s Triple Jump - 3rd
Tristan Wright (Lynchburg) - Men’s 60 - 5th
Dakota Houston (John Carroll) - Women’s 60m - 7th
Annika Paluska (Williams) - Women’s 800m - 8th
Ariella Rogahn-Press (Macalester) - Women’s 400m, 6th
Franklyn Akabi-During (Dickinson) - Men’s 200m - 6th
Maxin Rychkov (TCNJ) - Men’s 200m - 7th
Keira Rogan (Hamilton) - Women’s 3k - 5th

Williams women and Lynchburg men each had two freshman All-Americans indicating strong recruiting classes. Additionally, there were several events that were dominated by young talent, like the men’s pole vault, which saw four freshmen qualifiers and four sophomore first-team All-Americans.

Storybook finishes

While freshmen had the opportunity to launch their nationals careers this weekend, on the opposite end, there were several seniors who wrote storybook endings to their own careers.

Twice in a row, Emory’s Nikki Boon took runner-up to Loras standout Grace Alley in the multi events, but this weekend, not only did she finally get her national title but she broke Alley’s national record along the way. Her 4,061 point total was the only national record of the weekend and came after Boon won the 60 hurdles and the shot put and set new personal records in three events: the hurdles, the high jump, and the 800.

Another athlete who finally got his national title was Josh Jeffes of Cortland State. Jeffes has qualified for the 400 at nationals seven times. This year, he qualified with a relay for the first time in his career, which made it all the more special that this was the event in which he finally won his national title. The team of Evan Jensen, Zion Cheatham, Harrison Gavalas, and Jeffes ran 3:12.59 to take down 4x4 powerhouses Bethel, UWL, and Rowan and win Cortland’s first relay national title.

While not every athlete can capture a national title in their career, many posted their highest finishes ever, running races they will look back on with pride. Seniors Penelope Greene of SUNY Geneseo and Jonathan Zavala of Brockport State both ran gutsy races to propel them to runner-up finishes in the women’s 5k and men’s mile, respectively. Greene ran a great tactical race putting herself in the front and moving when it mattered. After a surge to second at 600 meters to go, Greene closed in a 35 to post her highest ever nationals finish.

Zavala impressed in the men’s mile, putting himself into contention with two laps to go. He boldly passed favorite Ziyad Hassan of MIT in the final lap and was just overtaken in the final meters by eventual champion Nick Lyndaker of St. Lawrence. He took runner-up by three hundredths of a second. Zavala took third in this event last year to earn his first All-American honor, which likely ignited his confidence to go for gold this past weekend. Even though sometimes someone gets you at the line, Zavala will always be able to say he was national runner-up in the mile, his best and most gutsy finish ever.

With over 600 national spots filled by D3’s top talent this past weekend, it’s impossible to commend each athlete’s accomplishments. Some athletes left with disappointment, others with elation, and perhaps some left with overwhelming gratitude, like UChicago’s Claudia Harnett or Lynchburg’s Tor Hotung-Davidsen, both of whom suffered injuries that took them out of competition during last year’s championships.

When you’re living out your wildest track and field dreams, it’s hard to take moments like the ones created this past weekend for granted, even the bad ones. Sometimes it takes loss to appreciate opportunity. Years in the future, athletes, coaches, and D3 fans alike will look back at the 2025 D3 Indoor Championships and they, too, will feel grateful.