NCAA Day 2: Oregon Ducks Win Team Title #1 Under Jerry as Isabella Whittaker Shatters American 400m Record (49.24)
By Robert Johnson and Jonathan Gault
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The final day of the women’s 2025 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships took place today at the Sports Center and the Oregon women showed right away that there would be no super-tight women’s team battle. The Ducks racked up 23 points in the first two track events and never looked back as they won their first national title under the tutelage of director Jerry Schumacher in convincing fashion, racking up 55 points as Georgia was second with 39.
We give you our biggest takeaways from all of the mid-d and distance events (in the order that they occurred) as well as the women’s 400 where Arkansas’ Isabella Whittaker ran the #2 time in world history, 49.24.
Women’s Mile: If you are fan of people who love to race, you should be a fan of new NCAA indoor mile champ Wilma Nielsen
In the women’s mile, Oregon teammates Wilma Nielsen of Sweden and NCAA mile record-holder Silan Ayyildiz of Turkey tried to control things from the front and ran right next to each other for most of this one. In the end, Ayyildiz, who ran the 1600 leg on Oregon’s runner-up DMR team last night, led for the first four laps and Nielsen, who ran the 1200 leg, led for the final four laps, squeezing each one down as she went 34.85, 33.90, 31.04, 29.09 to win her first NCAA title in 4:32.30. A fast-charging Mena Scatchard of Princeton/UK used the fastest last 400 of anyone in the field (59.56) to go from last to second in 4:32.87. NAU’s Maggi Congdon was third in 4:32.88 with Ayyildiz fourth in 4:33.98.
- Wilma Nielsen (Oregon) – 4:32.40
- Mena Scatchard (Princeton) – 4:32.87
- Maggi Congdon (Northern Arizona) – 4:32.88
- Silan Ayyildiz (Oregon) – 4:33.98
- Amina Maatoug (Washington) – 4:34.03
- Chloe Foerster (Washington) – 4:34.18
- Melissa Riggins (Georgetown) – 4:35.06
- Vera Sjoberg (Boston University) – 4:35.34
- Lorena Rangel Batres (LSU) – 4:35.35
- Margot Appleton (Virginia) – 4:36.01
In addition to running both the DMR here this weekend, Nielsen also ran the 800 at the European Championships in the Netherlands last weekend (she ran two rounds there and just missed the final). And her indoor season isn’t over. She leaves for World Indoors (where she is once again running the 800) in Nanjing, China tomorrow.
Princeton’s Mena Scatchard broke out in a big way by going from last to 2nd in the final 400m
In her first three years at Princeton, Scatchard, a 22-year-old Brit, never qualified for an NCAA championships. But last fall, she made it individually in cross country (she finished 123rd) and this winter she made it to NCAA indoors as the #14 seed in a 16-person field. Scatchard said she went into the meet just hoping to make the final, but did a lot more than that, closing with the fastest last 400 (59.76) and fastest last lap (28.51).
What’s even more amazing is that she closed that fast while passing almost the entire field – Scatchard was 10th with 400 to go and only 7th at the bell. Given how quickly Scatchard closed, she certainly would have been in contention to challenge Nielsen (who closed in 60.13/29.09) for the win had she been in better position late in the race. But Scatchard was pleased with how she executed in her first NCAA track final.
“I feel more comfortable finishing faster as opposed to holding on. I think that tactic was working this meet,” said Scatchard.
Women’s 800: UNC senior Makayla Paige, who had never even made it to NCAA indoors or an NCAA final before, went from 3rd at ACCs to 1st at NCAAs by being more aggressive
In her first appearance in an NCAA final and only second appearance ever at an NCAA championships, UNC senior Makayla Paige went wire to wire to win the title in a pb of 2:00.39 (28.20, 58.75, 1:29.87), ahead of Harvard senior Victoria Bossing in 2:00.93 as 2023 NCAA indoor champ Roisin Willis of Stanford was third in 2:01.00 with 2023 NCAA outdoor champ MIchaela Rose fourth in 2:02.19. Disaster almost struck at 200 meters when Paige was clipped from behind and lost her balance, coming very close to falling. But Paige managed to stay on her feet and regain her composure to win the title.
Results
- Makayla Paige (North Carolina) – 2:00.39 (PB) Splits: 200m – 28.20, 400m – 58.75, 600m – 1:29.87, 800m – 2:00.39
- Victoria Bossong (Harvard) – 2:00.93
- Roisin Willis (Stanford) – 2:01.00
- Michaela Rose (LSU) – 2:02.19
- Smilla Kolbe (North Florida) – 2:02.44
- Gabriella Grissom (Miami) – 2:02.46
- Sophia Gorriaran (Harvard) – 2:02.57
- Gladys Chepngetich (Clemson) – 2:02.60
After the race, we bumped into UNC coach Chris Miltenberg and asked him how Paige went from 3rd at ACCS to 1st at NCAAs in her first NCAA final (in her only other NCAA appearance, she didn’t get out of the heats outdoors last year). He said she was much more “decisive” today and that at ACCs ran too much in the back. He says he tells his runners, “You ride the tiger by grabbing its neck, not the tail,” as if you are in the back you get whipped around.
Paige said similar things in her interview with us.
“(I’m) definitely surprised and shocked, but also at the same time I knew that the training was gonna lead me to that point, and I tried to put myself in the race and trust that training, and I finally did it yesterday and today, and you could see a huge difference in how I raced,” said Paige.
“At ACCs, I kind of hung back and let other people run my race for me, and then that put me too far behind,” added Paige. “But I really tried to learn from that and talk to my coach about that, and he was like,’ Just put yourself in the front, compete with the people that are right there. The whole field is amazing, no matter where you are it’s gonna be crazy, so just put yourself ahead when you can.’”
Afterward, she asked us politely how she did in the interview as she hadn’t done any in a long time. We told her she did great – and that she needs to get used to them now. As an NCAA champion, she’ll be doing a lot more in the future.
For the record, both of the women who beat Paige at ACCs are pretty darn good and were in today’s final. ACC champ Roisin Willis finished 3rd in 2:01.00 and ACC runner-up Gladys Chepngetich of Clemson was 8th in 2:02.60.
No one could have seen these results coming
The women’s 800 meters was one of the most loaded events in the entire 2025 NCAA indoor meet. You had Olympic 7th placer and reigning NCAA indoor/outdoor champ Juliette Whittaker of Stanford, as well as two other former NCAA champs in Roisin Willis (2023 indoor) and Michaela Rose (2023 outdoors). And there was Arkansas’ Sanu Jallow, who has run 1:59.77 this season (#4 all-time NCAA indoors).
So of course the two sub-2 women didn’t make the final and the top two finishers were a pair of women who had never even made an NCAA final before in North Carolina’s Makayla Paige and Harvard’s Victoria Bossong.
Whittaker and Jallow didn’t make the final, and though Willis made a late charge, she was not able to run down Paige, who ran an outright pb of 2:00.39 for the win.
Michael Rose had a lot of support at a hometown NCAAs
Women’s 400: Arkansas’ Isabella Whittaker was the star of the meet with her 49.24 American record in the 400
Whittaker, the older sister of 800m Olympian Juliette Whittaker, was the fastest non-Arkansas finisher at last year’s NCAA championships while competing for Penn – though that was only good enough for 5th as the Razorbacks completed a remarkable 1-2-3-4 sweep.
This year, Whittaker is completing her fifth year at Arkansas, and today she broke through with a 49.24 performance to shave more than six-tenths off her 49.90 indoor pb (which is also her overall pb).
Whittaker’s time broke fellow Razorback Britton Wilson’s meet record of 49.48 from 2023 – which also doubles as the American and collegiate indoor record. And even though she had to wait until the second section was finished to be confirmed as NCAA champion, Whittaker said that seeing 49.24 pop on the screen was a magical feeling.
“My first thought was, I want to hold onto this feeling forever, because this is what it’s all for,” Whittaker said.
Whittaker only had the third-fastest time in the prelims (51.61) and did not even win her conference meet as 2024 US Olympian Aaliyah Butler ran 49.78 to Whittaker’s 49.90. But Whitaker knew she was capable of more coming into NCAAs.
“I had a really good feeling about this one,” said Whittaker, a Maryland native. “I kind of knew I was going to have to take it from the gun. Sometimes I struggle with that…When I came through the 200, I was like, this is going to be a good one.”
Oregon wins first NCAA team title of the Schumacher era
The expectation at the University of Oregon is to win NCAA titles, and head coach Jerry Schumacher, now in his third year in Eugene, has his first one as his women’s squad were the dominant winners with 55 points. That included Oregon’s first track champion of the Schumacher era in mile winner Wilma Nielsen (Oregon assistant Shalane Flanagan is Nielsen’s primary coach).
“That was an A+ meet,” Schumacher said. “I think we overperformed in just about everything, if not everything, and that doesn’t often happen at national meets.”
The Ducks used a balanced effort to win the title with runner-up finishes in the 60, 200, 60 hurdles, DMR, and shot put. Nielsen (who was also on the DMR) and sprinter Jadyn Mays were the stars for Oregon. Mays did not need to come back for this season as she only had indoor eligibility remaining. But she did, and she piled up 16 points by herself – which was the Ducks’ exact margin of victory today.
“You know, it doesn’t happen without her,” Schumacher said. “She’s just an incredible person, the kind of athlete that’s like, hey, I’m gonna put you on my back and we’re gonna go.’ And you can feel that with her.”
Women’s 3000: If you don’t succeed, try, try, try again
After finishing 42nd, 6th, 3rd, 8th, 3rd, 24th, 6th, 3rd, 6th, and 6th in her previous NCAA appearances (both XC and track), West Virginia senior Ceili McCabe, the Canadian record holder and Olympian in the steeplechase, won her first NCAA title tonight in women’s 3000 in 9:01.18. McCabe, who took the lead with 3.5 laps remaining and ran each of her final 4 laps faster than the previous lap, used a 62.82 final 400 and 30.34 final 200 to hold off Alabama’s three-time NCAA champ Doris Lemngole (9:01.64), whom we’ve so grown accustomed to seeing kick to NCAA titles (including the 5k last night).
It’s also worth noting McCabe was the only woman in the 16-person field who was running her first race of the weekend. That freshness helps, but it’s rare for a fresh athlete to win the 3k – 10 of the previous 11 champions were doubling back from wins in the DMR or 5k.
Coming off the final turn, New Mexico’s Pamela Kosgei was right with Lemngole but she went down in a fall after stepping on the rail and ended up 11th in 9:04.42. 5000 runner-up Lexy Halladay-Lowry of BYU was third in 9:03.20.
- Ceili McCabe (West Virginia) – 9:01.18
- Doris Lemngole (Alabama) – 9:01.64
- Lexy Halladay-Lowry (BYU) – 9:03.20
- Amina Maatoug (Washington) – 9:03.34
- Grace Hartman (NC State) – 9:03.37
- Kimberley May (Providence) – 9:03.51
- Paityn Noe (Arkansas) – 9:03.78
- Elise Stearns (Northern Arizona) – 9:04.01
- Sophia Kennedy (Stanford) – 9:04.07
- Hannah Gapes (NC State) – 9:04.35
- Pamela Kosgei (New Mexico) – 9:04.42
- Riley Chamberlain (BYU) – 9:06.63
- Margot Appleton (Virginia) – 9:08.02
- Amy Bunnage (Stanford) – 9:11.87
- Shannon Flockhart (Providence) – 9:12.33
- Silan Ayyildiz (Oregon) – DNF
Washington’s Amina Maatoug was in a very good mood after an impressive mile/3k double
Maatoug, who is from the Netherlands and began her NCAA career at Duke, notched her best career NCAA finish today by taking 4th in the 3k. The most impressive thing about it? She was doubling back from a 5th-place finish in the mile (her previous best finish) less than an hour earlier.
Maatoug said she was grateful the first kilometer went slow in the 3k. She became worried as the pace picked up, but wound up from last at 2k to 4th by the finish.
“The second k, they started to pick it up a bit and I was feeling pretty bad,” Maatoug said. “It was hard, I was in the back. I was like, oh no, I’m going to get last. This sucks. And then I saw five laps left on the lap counter and was like, you know what? I don’t feel as bad as I thought I did. And I started to pass some people. I was like, okay, they seem to be more tired than I am.”
Indeed, 15 of the 16 women in this final were doubling back from an earlier event in the meet. But only three were doubling back from the mile final earlier in the day (as well as a mile prelim on Friday): Maatoug, Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz (who DNF’d within 200m) and Virginia’s Margot Appleton (who finished 13th in the 3k).
Considering Maatoug ran the 3k fresh last year and wound up dropping out, she was overjoyed to have finished 5th and 4th in two NCAA finals in the span of an hour.
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