Pamela Kosgei Dominates Fast 10,000, Michaela Rose Breaks 800 Meet Record in Prelims – 2025 NCAA Day 2

EUGENE, Ore. – For the second night in a row, a Kenyan from the University of New Mexico won a 10,000-meter title at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field as Pamela Kosgei followed in the footsteps of men’s champion Ishmael Kipkurui to win the women’s crown in 31:17.82. 

Unlike Kipkurui, who waited until the final lap to make his move in a tactical race, Kosgei broke free of North Carolina State’s Grace Hartman just after 6400 meters and powered away to win by more than 14 seconds, obliterating Parker Valby’s year-old meet record of 31:46.09 in the process. In fact, the top five were under Valby’s record in what was easily the deepest NCAA 10,000 final in history.

Hartman did much of the early leading, meticulously checking her watch every 200 meters as she towed the field through 5,000m in a quick 15:37.9. At that point, the pack numbered six, but within two laps it was down to just Hartman and Kosgei. It stayed that way for a lap and a half until Kosgei took off, with Hartman finishing a well-beaten 2nd in 31:32.15.

Quick Take: Just like men’s champ Ishmael Kipkurui, Kosgei is a world-class talent with a strong pedigree

Kipkurui came to New Mexico as the 2023 World U20 cross country champion, making him one of the most decorated recruits in NCAA history. Kosgei, who is also a freshman, also enrolled with a very impressive resume as she earned bronze in the U20 race at the same World XC champs as Kipkurui. She also has strong genes as she is the younger sister of former marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei.

Kosgei had an immediate impact for UNM, taking 2nd at NCAA XC in November and 3rd in the NCAA indoor 5,000 (she was 11th in the 3k after a bad fall in the home straight). Kosgei will double back for the 5,000 on Saturday, where she hopes to complete the sweep, but said she wants to try out for the Kenyan World Championship team in the steeplechase – an event in which she ran 9:15 this spring.

Quick Take: Grace Hartman said she was proud to have made the race tough

Hartman entered the meet with a pb of 31:20.60, #4 in collegiate history, and tried to run even faster tonight as she wanted to take the field through halfway in 15:35 and race from there. Hartman was pretty close to that split but the aggressive pace eventually took its toll – and with how Kosgei ran tonight, even 31:10 may not have been enough to drop her. Overall, though, Hartman said she was pleased with how things went.

“You always want to come out with the win, but I’m really proud about how it went,” Hartman said.

Quick Take: This race was very deep

With good conditions for racing, Hartman willing to lead the first half, and a field full of peaked athletes, it’s no surprise that times were fast across the board – nine of the top 11 women ran personal bests (all but Kosgei and Hartman). In all, five of the top 11 women in NCAA history ran their pbs this season, including three in Thursday’s race.

NCAA women’s 10,000m all–time list

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Few Surprises in 800, 1500 and Steeple Prelims as Michaela Rose Blasts 1:58.95 meet record

Women’s 800: 7 sub-2:00 women make the final

With seven sub-2:00 women at NCAAs this year, expectations were that the women’s 800 final could be historic. And history was made today in the semifinals as LSU’s Michaela Rose,the 2023 NCAA champ, broke Suzy Favor Hamilton‘s 35-year-old meet record of 1:59.11 in the prelims as she won heat 1 in 1:58.95 on a night where four women broke 2:00.

Of the seven sub-2:00 performers during the 2025 regular season, six of them made the final with ACC champ Gladys Chepngetich of Clemson by way of Kenya the lone casualty. She didn’t make the final after finishing 4th in heat 3 in 2:03.53. But there will be seven sub-2:00 women in the final as Duke’s Lauren Tolbert joined the club by running 1:59.39 behind Rose in heat 1.

Michaela Rose has the collegiate record on her mind again

Rose, who said she tried sodium bicarbonate before a race for the first time today (she had tried it in practice previously), said her coach told her to run today’s race like a final, so that’s what she did. She went out in 56.86 for the first 400 and broke the meet record to clock her third 1:58 of the season. With all of the depth in the event this year, Rose is hoping Athing Mu’s 1:57.73 collegiate record is broken in Saturday’s final.

“I would hope so,” Rose said. “That’s the dream. The collegiate record, I’ve been going after it for a while. Nothing is impossible, especially with this group of girls. I feel like we’ve had so many people in front of before that we’re confident enough to go for it and just see who’s going to get it.”

Stanford’s Roisin Willis

NCAA indoor champ Makayla Paige of North Carolina

Heat 1

1. Michaela Rose (LSU, SR) – 1:58.95 Q MR
2. Lauren Tolbert (Duke, JR) – 1:59.39 Q PB
3. Laura Pellicoro (Portland, SR) – 2:01.07 q PB
4. Victoria Bossong (Harvard, SR) – 2:01.07 q
5. Fanny Arendt (Texas Tech, JR) – 2:03.13
6. Emma Kelley (Wisconsin, SR) – 2:04.40
7. Marie Warneke (UCLA, FR) – 2:04.59
8. Jenna Schwinghamer (Kentucky, SR) – 2:05.73

Heat 2

1. Makayla Paige (North Carolina, JR) – 1:59.92 Q
2. Meghan Hunter (BYU, SR) – 1:59.96 Q
3. Smilla Kolbe (North Florida, SR) – 2:00.70 q
4. Sophia Gorriaran (Harvard, SO) – 2:03.42
5. Maeve O’Neill (Providence, SO) – 2:03.43
6. Alli Bookin-Nosbisch (Iowa, SR) – 2:03.78
7. Aaliyah Moore (Kansas, SR) – 2:04.18
   DQ. Sanu Jallow (Arkansas, JR) – Disqualified

Heat 3

1. Roisin Willis (Stanford, JR) – 2:00.33 Q
2. Veronica Hargrave (Indiana, FR) – 2:01.54 Q
3. Janet Jepkemboi Amimo (Kentucky, FR) – 2:02.10
4. Gladys Chepngetich (Clemson, SO) – 2:03.53
5. Emma Sullivan (Kennesaw State, SR) – 2:05.71
6. Tessa Buswell (BYU, FR) – 2:05.94
7. Kaylie Politza (Oklahoma State, JR) – 2:06.87
8. Makayla Clark (Iowa State, JR) – 2:28.86

Women’s 1500: O’Sullivan is confident despite past NCAA missteps

The major players we expected to contend for the title all made the final including Oregon’s Klaudia Kazimierska and Washington’s Sophie O’Sullivan, the two Olympians with pbs of 3:59.95 and 4:00.23, respectively. That being said, three women who had run under 4:06 this year didn’t make the final – Providence’s Shannon Flockhart, Eastern Kentucky’s Bahiya El Arfaoui, and Clemson’s Silvia Jelelgo. Flockhart actually came into the meet with the fastest time run in NCAA competition this year (4:04.97). And her failure to qualify was notable as she’d scored in each of her three previous NCAA outdoor appearances (7th in 2022, 6th in 2023 and 2024).

O’Sullivan has never scored individually at NCAAs during her career, which ends on Saturday. That doesn’t faze her, however. She said last year she came in with only a few weeks of running after having a stress fracture. 

“I think this year I just have everything that I need to take any kind of scenario,” she said.

NAU’s Maggi Congdon

Heat 1

1. Sophie O’Sullivan (Washington, SR) – 4:09.39 Q
2. Mia Barnett (Oregon, SR) – 4:09.61 SB Q
3. Klaudia Kazimierska (Oregon, SR) – 4:09.94 Q
4. Lindsey Butler (Virginia Tech, SR) – 4:10.16 Q
5. Mena Scatchard (Princeton, SR) – 4:10.23 Q
6. Vera Sjoberg (Boston University, JR) – 4:10.59q
7. Chloe Foerster (Washington, JR) – 4:10.62q
8. Silvia Jelelogo (Clemson, SO) – 4:11.66
9. Judy Rono (New Mexico, FR) – 4:13.35
10. Charlotte Tomkinson (Georgetown, JR) – 4:14.03
11. Shannon Flockhart (Providence, SR) – 4:14.77
12. Kaiya Robertson (Boise State, JR) – 4:15.31

Heat 2

1. Maggi Congdon (Northern Arizona, SR) – 4:11.04 Q
2. Margot Appleton (Virginia, SR) – 4:11.64 Q
3. Silan Ayyildiz (Oregon, JR) – 4:11.65 Q
4. Salma Elbadra (South Carolina, SO) – 4:11.67 Q
5. Kimberley May (Providence, SR) – 4:12.07 Q
6. Riley Chamberlain (BYU, JR) – 4:12.28
7. Carlee Hansen (BYU, JR) – 4:12.35
8. Amina Maatoug (Washington, SR) – 4:12.71
9. Bahiya El Arfaoui (Eastern Kentucky, SO) – 4:12.87
10. Taryn Parks (North Carolina, SR) – 4:15.19
11. Allie Zealand (Liberty, FR) – 4:15.88
12. Berlyn Schutz (Nebraska, SO) – 4:16.15

Women’s Steeple: All goes according to form

All eight of the women who had run under 9:45 on the year made the final. NCAA collegiate and meet record holder Doris Lemngole of Alabama led the way with the fastest time of the night by nearly 10 seconds in 9:26.44.

Heat 1

1. Doris Lemngole (Alabama, SO) – 9:26.44 Q
2. Katelyn Stewart-Barnett (Michigan State, SR) – 9:37.81 Q
3. Karrie Baloga (Northern Arizona, SO) – 9:37.93 PB
4. Taylor Lovell (BYU, SO) – 9:37.97 Q
5. Shelby Jensen (Utah State, SO) – 9:38.01 Q PB
6. Leah Jeruto (Oklahoma, FR) – 9:39.54 q
7. Sydney Masciarelli (North Carolina, JR) – 9:52.08
8. Kennady Fontenot (Texas A&M, SO) – 9:52.75
9. Brooke Mullins (Florida State, SR) – 9:56.80 PB
10. Gwenno Goode (La Salle, SO) – 10:04.19
11. Sophia McDonnell (New Mexico, SR) – 10:04.39
12. Madaline Ullom (Penn State, SR) – 10:08.96

Heat 2

1. Angelina Napoleon (NC State, SO) – 9:36.19 Q
2. Lexy Halladay-Lowry (BYU, SR) – 9:36.24 Q
3. Debora Cherono (Texas A&M, FR) – 9:36.95 PB
4. Sarah Tait (West Virginia, SR) – 9:37.06 Q
5. Maggie Liebich (Washington, SR) – 9:37.40 Q
6. Emily Paupore (Central Michigan, SR) – 9:43.24 q
7. Ebba Cronholm (Kansas, FR) – 9:46.53 PB
8. Hanna Ackermann (Boise State, SO) – 9:54.21
9. Katja Pattis (Idaho, SR) – 9:57.34 PB
10. Molly Malague (Harvard, JR) – 10:03.54
11. Nelly Jemeli (Mississippi State, FR) – 10:04.95
12. Layla Roebke (Louisville, SR) – 10:14.24

Rest of the meet

The women’s sprints were extremely fast as Clemson’s Jameesia Ford (10.87, +1.6) and Florida’s Anthaya Charlton (10.87 +1.4) broke 10.90 wind-legal on a day where six women ran 10.93 or faster (2 of them windy). Ford also had the best 200 time of the day (21.98, +0.9). 

Coming into the meet, Georgia was expected to run away with the meet and that still seems to be the case as they racked up 26 points and also have the top 2 seeds in the 400 in Aaliyah Butler (50.16) and Dejanea Oakley (50.18). 

In the field, the most noteworthy result came in the pole vault, where Hana Moll broke her twin sister Amanda Moll’s collegiate record of 4.78m and won with a 4.79m.

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