Women's Track & Field Leads After Opening Day of NCAA Division III Indoor Championships; Boykin Wins Weight Throw Title

ROCHESTER, NY – Senior Alexis Boykin (Clayton, Ohio) delivered the second best mark in NCAA Division III history in the weight throw, claiming her second consecutive NCAA National Championship in the event, as the MIT women's track & field team opened the 2025 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship on Friday at the Golisano Training Center. Boykin had one of four All-America performances on the day for MIT, as the Engineers currently lead the overall team standings with 29 points on the strength of performances in the weight throw, pole vault, 5000m, and the Distance Medley Relay.

THE BASICS:

MIT Team Score: 1st of 30 (29 points)
Top-Five Team Scores: 1. MIT 29; 2. Loras 18; 3. U. of Chicago 17; 4. Wis.-Oshkosh 15; 5. Washington U. 13.

HOW IT HAPPENED - FIELD EVENTS:

Weight Throw: Boykin's opening attempt traveled 19.71m and would have won the event, but the defending national champion followed with three throws of over 20m on her next four attempts, including a mark of 20.48 (67' 2 1/4") on her second attempt. With her second consecutive national championship in hand, Boykin took aim at the national record on her final attempt, encouraging the crowd to make some noise before delivering with a mark of 2.91m.
Pole Vault: Junior Hailey Surace (Danville, Calif.) set a new collegiate PR of 3.97m (13' 0 1/4") to finish as the national runner-up, earning All-America honors in the pole vault and seven points in the team standings. Surace cleared each of the first six progressions on her first attempt at each height. However, national champion Yasmin Ruff of WashU was the only competitor to clear 4.02m (13' 2 1/4"). MIT junior Katelyn Howard (Lake Oswego, Ore.) passed at 3.47m (11' 4 1/2") before clearing 3.62m (11' 10 1/2") on her first attempt. She cleared both 3.77m (12'4 1/2") and 3.87m (12' 8 1/4") on the second attempt but she did not progress pass 3.92m (12' 10 1/4") and finished in 11th place. First year Elise Doyle (Danville, Calif.) cleared 3.47m (11' 4 1/2") on her first attempt but failed to clear at 3.62m to finish 19th in her first NCAA appearance.

HOW IT HAPPENED - RUNNING EVENTS:

Mile: Grad student Gillian Roeder (Delmar, N.Y.) finished fourth in qualifying in 4:54.25, taking third in heat one to advance to Saturday's final.
800m: Junior Krystal Montgomery (San Jose, Calif.) was 14th, taking fifth in heat one in 2:14.12 in her first NCAA appearance in the event.
5000m: Junior Rujuta Sane (Chandler, Ariz.) moved from sixth place up to fifth place in the final stretch of the 5000m to earn MIT four points in the event. Sane finished in 16:56.67 to earn All-America accolades. Sophomore Liv Girand (New York, N.Y.) was 18th overall, finishing in 17:31.28 in her first NCAA appearance.
Distance Medley Relay: Friday was punctuated by a runner-up and All-America performance in the DMR, where senior Christina Crow (Mercer Island, Wash.), senior Marina Miller (Bel Air, Md.), Montgomery and junior Kate Sanderson (West Hartford, Conn.) finished with a time 11:41.39 to pick up eight points for the Engineers.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Along with the second best mark in Division III history, Boykin set a new PR, MIT program record and a facility record at the Golisano Training Center in the weight throw.
Surace was making her third appearance at the NCAA indoor championships, after finishing 17th in 2024 and 13th in 2023. She was an All-American at the NCAA outdoor championships in 2024, finishing 3rd.
Howard was making her second NCAA indoor appearance, after earning All-American honors in 2024.
Roeder returns to the final in the Mile for the first time since 2023 indoor nationals, where she finished fifth. Roeder was also fourth in the prelims in 2023.
Montgomery finished the 800m in 2:14.12, but she wasn't fazed in the DMR, where she followed with an improved time of 2:12.46.
Sane was making her second NCAA Indoor appearance but her first in the 5000m. She was 20th in the mile at last year's national meet.
The DMR got out to an early lead and put down a season-best time but could not hold off an impressive performance by U. of Chicago. Chicago won the event in 11:37.62.

NEXT UP:

Day two of the 2025 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championship begins on Saturday, March 15 at 10:00 AM.
Junior Nony Otu Ugwu (Katy, Texas) is the first MIT competitor up on Saturday, competing in the triple jump at 11:00 AM.
Roeder will run in the final of the mile, while Crow, Roeder, Sanderson, and Sane are scheduled to complete in the 3000m at 6:00 PM.
Boykin returns in the shot put, competing alongside classmate Emily Ball (Des Moines, Iowa) at 2:30 PM.

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