After winning the 5K during indoor season, Kuzma, Hillsdale’s Allison Kuzma came into the NCAA Division II as the favorite in the 10K.
The Zeeland East graduate proved once again to the best in the country, and once again in dominating fashion, demolishing the rest of the field by nearly 38 seconds to earn the second national title of her career.
For the first two-thirds of the race, Kuzma hung with the lead pack waiting to make her move.
Her move came at the 6,200m mark, as Kuzma surged to the front of the pack and began to pull away from the field. In just a lap and a half she opened up a 10 second gap to second place and didn’t let up, taking as much as a 200-meter advantage on the rest of the field to put the title away early.
Kuzma crossed the finish line in 33:43.47, breaking the facility record of 34:14.47 set by Florence Uwajeneza of West Texas A&M at the 2024 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships.
The title and the dominance displayed by Kuzma add to a similarly impressive indoor national title won this winter in the 5K run at Virginia Beach, Virginia in March.
Kuzma joins a short list of Hillsdale women’s track and field greats with multiple individual national titles, becoming the fifth Charger to accomplish that feat after past greats Erin Gillespie, Gina Van Laar, Amanda Putt and Hamilton native Emily Oren.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hillsdale’s Allison Kuzma dominates way to NCAA Division II national title in 10K
Reporting by Dan D’Addona, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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