ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 25, 2023) – The 2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships are off and running as of Thursday morning, and Loras College track & field finished day one strong with a national championship from graduate student Kassie Parker in the 10,000-meters.

Parker and Fiona Smith of the College of St. Benedict put themselves in a different zip code in the final race of the day as the two ran away from the field under the lights. After leading for the vast majority of the race, Parker found herself trailing Smith by a couple of meters with two corners to go, but her kick down the final straight was enough to reclaim the top spot on the podium. Parker's time of 33:02.53 shattered a 40-year-old championship record, while Smith's time makes her the second-fastest Division III runner in that distance, behind only Parker's all-time mark from earlier this season.

Thursday night's race marks Parker's second career 10k national championship (2019) and her fourth straight All-America-worthy performance in that race distance. She will get one last chance to run for the purple and gold on Saturday when she takes on the 5,000-meters.

Parker's All-America effort was the second of the day for the Duhawk women with sophomore Harmony Creasy earning that honor with a seventh-place finish in the long jump event. Creasy was the national runner-up in the indoor long jump earlier this season and notched a mark of 5.76 meters on her third attempt on Thursday, which vaulted her into the finals and ultimately earner her her second individual All-America mark for the calendar year.

Creasy also had a hand in a strong effort from the women's 4x400-meter relay team that won their heat with a time of 3:45.33 to automatically advance to Saturday's finals. Senior Stevie Lambe, Creasy, sophomore Aliyah Collier, and senior Alyssa Pfadenhauer finished second overall in the preliminaries.

That was the second women's relay squad to advance past the prelims on day one as the 4x100-meter relay group of Creasy, senior Marion Edwards, Lambe, and junior Kelly Kohlhof took first overall with a 45.96 that sets a new facility record at the Polisseni Track & Field Complex.

Through four of the seven events, senior Grace Alley is in third place in the heptathlon standings after being the top high jumper in the group at 1.70 meters. Alley entered the regular high jump field on Thursday as well, tying with her teammate Collier for 14^th place with a best clearance of 1.61 meters. The Duhawk women also saw senior Ellie Osterberger finish 13^th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and senior Gabrielle Noland finish 14^th in the 200-meter dash.

On the men's side, the top result of the day came from the 4x100-meter relay squad as seniors De'Andre Klein, Josh Smith, and juniors Ted Kruse and Dayvion Foreman ran a 41.00 that placed them in eighth overall. Initially, that time looked to be enough to get into the finals, but after a time adjustment, both Loras and the team from Texas Lutheran University were credited with 40.995 times, which means there will be a run-off on Friday to determine which team advances to Saturday's finals.

Loras' other relay team, the 4x400-meter group of senior Mike Jasa, Smith, Kruse, and senior Carter Oberfoell placed 10^th overall on Thursday with a 3:12.87 time that fell less than half a second shy of the eighth and final transfer spot.
Thursday action also saw junior Holden Murphy finish 11^th in the discus, junior Ryan Harvey and senior Wyatt Kelly finish 15^th and 18^th in the 1500-meters, and junior Derik Bunten finish 19^th in the long jump.

Day two of the outdoor championships in Rochester, N.Y. begin on Friday morning at 10 A.M. ET.