Hello Outdoor my old friend
Quick recap from last weekend before this weekend.
Written by Emily Richards and Jackson Anderson
Just two weeks after the indoor season officially drew to a close, the outdoor season is well underway and starting to heat up. Some chased warm weather, others fought high winds, and one took down a national record. Here’s what happened in D3 outdoor track and field this weekend.
Nikki Boon heptathlon national record
Nikki Boon on the D3 Glory Days Podcast on how she was viewing this weekend:
Folks, she did it again. Just 14 days after breaking the D3 pentathlon record, Nikki Boon opened her outdoor season with another national record. She put up a score of 5638 in the heptathlon, obliterating the previous record of 5471 set in 2021 by Eau Claire’s Megan Wallace. Over two days and seven events, she won all seven individual events, set six personal bests, achieved five marks that are in the top 20 nationally this season, and, of course, broke one national record. Let’s review her weekend.
In a small field of seven women at her home track at Emory, Boon began the heptathlon with a personal best in the 100m hurdles, running 14.32. This improved her previous PR of 14.61 and is currently the third fastest time in D3 this season. She followed that up with a 1.63m clearance, matching her PR that she had set two weeks ago at the NCAA Championships. This is eighth on the national list. The third event of the day was shot put, where she threw 12.32m. The last event of day 1 was the 200m, where she ran yet another PR of 24.95. At the end of the first day, she had amassed 3290 points, putting her on pace to break the national record.
Day 2 began with the long jump, one of her strongest events. She leapt 5.91m on her second attempt, setting her fourth PR in five events. She sits fourth on the national list in that event. The penultimate event was javelin, where she threw 39.49m, currently twelfth on the national list. Going into the last event, the 800m, she had 4770 points, needing only 702 points to break the record. To earn this she would need to run 2:29.3, which should be possible as her PR was 2:21.97.
She ran 2:16.77. She did this entirely alone, finishing 24 seconds faster than the next fastest runner.
In summary, these were the highlights of her weekend:
100mH: 14.23 (PR, D3 2025 #3)
HJ: 1.63 (=PR, D3 2025 #8)
200m: 24.95 (PR)
LJ: 5.91 (PR, D3 2025 #4)
JT: 39.49m (D3 2025 #12)
800m: 2:16.77 (PR)
Heptathlon: 5638 (PR, D3 2025 #1, D3 National Record)
This is the most dominant performance D3 has ever seen in the women’s heptathlon, perhaps, even, in any event. Nikki Boon has kicked off what is sure to be a special season -- we’re eager to see what else she has in store.
High winds carry Simpson’s Kendrick Achebe to No. 2 all-time
Last year, a gust of 5.5 m/s carried La Crosse’s Sam Blaskowski to the first sub-10 100-meter dash in D3 history. This past weekend, Simpson’s Kendrick Achebe caught a similar gust of 5.7 m/s, which carried him to 10.10 seconds, making him the second fastest D3 runner in history under all conditions.
Blaskowski owns the top three fastest times in D3 history, including his wind-legal national record of 10.09. Achebe’s 10.10 converts to roughly a 10.25 with no wind and a 10.17 at the legal maximum of 2.0 m/s. Both marks easily take the current national D3 lead in the men’s 100m.
Achebe’s previous PB in the 100 was 10.76, but he comes off of his best indoor season yet, in which he qualified for his first D3 national meet and finished 15th in the men’s 60m. With momentum rolling into outdoor, Achebe will set his sights on making a national final in one of the deepest men’s sprint fields in D3 history.
D3 at Raleigh Relays
The historic Raleigh Relays set the tone for the season for collegiates of all divisions, and D3 did not leave disappointed. One of the most standout performances came from distance standout Faith Duncan of Wilmington, who ran 32:57.31 in the 10k to land third in D3 history. Duncan narrowly missed Fiona Smith’s No. 2 all-time mark by 0.03 seconds. Though it feels like Duncan has been at the top of women’s distance for awhile, she won her first national title less than a year ago. Her upset over Smith in the 5k launched what has been one of the most successful women’s distance careers in history, and perhaps with this performance, Duncan will attempt to add a 10k national title to her resume as well.
Duncan’s teammate, Simon Heys, who appears to have another season of eligibility left, also shook things up in the distance races when he ran 13:57.78, the 17th fastest time for the men’s 5k in D3 history and his first time under 14 minutes. Heys became the 20th athlete in D3 history to accomplish this feat outdoors.
Other notable achievements in Raleigh this weekend included:
Gunner Schlender of UW-Whitewater and Anthony Rodriguez of Babson both ran under 29:45. Schlender ran 29:29.84 and 29:43.74.
Johns Hopkins’s Annie Huang carried momentum from her fifth place finish in the women’s 800 indoors with a heat victory and new personal best of 2:08.63.
XC national champion teammates Rujuta Sane and Kate Sanderson of MIT lined up for the 10k and both ran under 35:30. Sane made her 10k debut, and Sanderson set a 16-second PB running 34:52.91.
Throws sensation Alexis Boykin of MIT had a busy weekend, setting national leads in all three throwing events she contested: the discus throw, the hammer throw, and the shot put. Last spring, she was second, first, and first, respectively in these three events at nationals, but is already well ahead of where she was last year at this time of the season:
WashU Distance Carnival
A great sunset and a energetic atmosphere makes for prime conditions for folks to get after it in St. Louis.
Shortly after Simon Heys broke 14 minutes in North Carolina, Grant Matthai became the 21st to dip under 14 when he ran 13:56.79 at WashU this past weekend. Matthai rises to No. 12 in D3 history. He was the only D3 athlete to go under the 14-minute barrier but had his teammates Aidan Matthai and Adam Loesner close behind, running 14:06 and 14:09, respectively.
How many women have run under 2:10 for WashU? Izzy Gorton becomes the latest Bear to get under the barrier. She ran 2:09.68 to win the 800m at the Distance Carnival. Her teammate Sophie Bekins ran an 11-second PB to run 4:30 in the 1500m.
Sophie Bekins en route to a new PB. Picture by Oliver Witt
Andrew Hutchinson of Dubuque ran an impressive 1:49.11 to take the win in the 800 and set a new D3 lead.
The 10k featured a strong battle between Isaac vanWestrienen of Cornell College and Braden Nicholson of North Central. It came down to the last lap with a big kick from vanWestrienen to take the win. The two crossed the line in 29:15.97 and 29:18.44, respectively. 26 other men went under 31 minutes. The 22nd time on the descending order is 30:32 as of March 28th.
The 22nd time on the descending order is 30:32 as of March 28th.
On the women’s side Rachel Brennan of Gordon led the way running 34:28.04. Nine other women went under 36 minutes.
Lynchburg Trio Shines
Tor Hotung-Davidsen, Sam Llaneza, and Chasen Hunt showed off the Hornets’ depth in the 1500. All three ran under 3:48, led by Hotung-Davidsen who ran 3:45.
But they weren’t done–Hotung-Davidsen and Llaneza doubled back in the 800, running 1:49.95 and 1:50.13. What a weekend.
Name of the Week
Rabbit Barnes of Colorado College ran 3:49 up at altitude which converts down to 3:44. More importantly, Rabbit is currently leading the country and that is awesome.
Top-20 marks in national events
There were 14 top-20 all-time marks set this past weekend, including five top-ten marks. In addition to Boon’s national record, Achebe’s No. 2 all-time all conditions 100m, and Duncan’s No. 3 all-time women’s 10k, the field events saw history made with WashU’s Yasmin Ruff’s clearance of 4.10m in the women’s pole vault (No. 8 all-time) and Wilmington’s Nathen Borgan’s toss of 64.56m in the men’s hammer throw (No. 9 all-time).
No. 2 All Conditions - Kendrick Achebe (Simpson) - Men’s 100m - 10.10 (+5.7)
No. 15 All Conditions - Jahmal Jones (Ferrum) - Men’s 100m - 10.27 (+3.4)
No. 15 All Conditions - Alyssa Busker (Elmhurst) - Women’s 100m - 11.63 (+3.4)
No. 12 - Grant Matthai (UW-La Crosse) - Men’s 5k - 13:56.79
No. 17 - Simon Heys (Wilmington) - Men’s 5k - 13:57.78
No. 3 - Faith Duncan (Wilmington) - Women’s 10k - 32:57.31
No. 18 - Isaac vanWestrienen (Cornell College) - Men’s 10k - 29:15.97
No. 14 - Elmhurst - Women’s 4x100m relay - 46.20
No. 14 - Colby College - Women’s 4x400m relay - 3:44.14
No. 8 - Yasmin Ruff (WashU) - Women’s Pole Vault - 4.10m
No. 18 - Gwen Berenyi (North Central) - Women’s Pole Vault - 4.03m
No. 9 - Nathen Borgan (Wilmington) - Men’s Hammer Throw - 64.56m
No. 17 - Corey Stalters (Bridgewater State) - Men’s Javelin Throw - 68.40m
No. 1 - Nikki Boon (Emory) - Women’s Heptathlon - 5,638