Women’s track had a strong showing at the 2025 NCAA Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships last weekend at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. Originally seeded tenth, the women’s team took seventh place overall and produced four All-American results.
Going into the weekend, the Ephs were riding the high of their massive win at Div. III New Englands on March 3. Kate Tuttle ’28 took second place in the mile with a time of 4:48.89, a personal record and the second-fastest time in College history. Rachel Arthur ’25, who expected to compete for a title in the 60m dash, did not make it to finals on a technicality: Although her time was as fast as runners who qualified for the finals, she did not place highly enough within her heat to advance.
But Arthur did not conclude the weekend empty-handed, running a quick 200m in 24.87 to place fifth and solidify an All-American spot.
“I channeled all my anger from what had happened to me in the 60m and used that to fuel up my 200m,” Arthur said. “I think it gave me an extra boost.”
Nazareth University’s Golisano Training Center, a smaller venue boasting a yellow and purple track, provided a uniquely intimate setting for the meet.
“The atmosphere of the meet was super high,” said Ellie Fitzgerald ’26, a pole vaulter who tied for sixth place to secure an All-American finish. “It was just a normal Div. III school track, so it wasn’t a massive facility,” Fitzgerald said. “It was packed. You had to elbow your way to the front to be able to cheer on whatever race was going.”
Another quirk of the meet was the track’s incline, or lack thereof. The team had previously only competed on banked tracks — which are more standard for indoor meets — but Nazareth’s track is flat. Nonetheless, the Ephs set a new school record in the 4x400m relay, with a time of 3:47.69. “It is even more impressive to go from running on treadmills to competing in earlier meets on a banked track to competing at nationals on a flat track and still getting a school record,” said Cate Donaldson ’27, who competed on the record-setting relay.
Adapting to the unusual surface wasn’t the only challenge the Ephs had to overcome: Throughout this season, the lack of a functional field house on campus has disrupted the team’s practice schedule, Donaldson said. The team often had to drive half an hour to Bennington to practice at the “track shack.”
The team also attended only one meet in January. “We were kind of under-raced going into nationals,” Donaldson said. “But I think we were still prepared because we were so consistent with our training.”
After the Ephs’ indoor season, the near future looks bright. The conclusion of indoor nationals marks the beginning of the outdoor season, with NESCACs — which they last won in 2019 — looming in late April.
The team was first-year heavy at nationals and believes that will only allow it to improve moving forward, according to Arthur. “We’d love to win NESCACs,” she said. “I feel like it is finally going to be our time.”
