Allison Kuzma waited to make her move.
The Hillsdale College sophomore from Zeeland hung back before catching and passing runner after runner in the 5,000 meters before there was no one ahead of her but the finish line.
Kuzma won the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championship in the 5K, breaking Hillsdale College’s indoor record in the event by more than 15 seconds and beating the field by nearly 19 seconds to win the first national title of her career on Friday, March 13, at Virginia Beach.
“This race meant a ton to me,” Kuzma said. “Going in, I was hoping to get an All-American spot, so the result definitely exceeded my expectation. … After finishing, seeing how excited my coaching staff, athletic director and teammates were what truly made it special. There were may tears amongst my coaches, which just reaffirmed my great appreciation for the program and community we have at Hillsdale. I could not be more grateful to be a part of this team and could not speak highly enough about how truly special Hillsdale is.”
The Zeeland East graduate was seeded seventh heading into the meet.
Kuzma started toward the back of the pack before methodically working her way through the competition.
She moved from 15th to ninth at the 1K mark, and with two-thirds of the race remaining, she had raced into second place.
Standing in her way was the NCAA Division II cross country champion Tristian Spence from Adams State, who was the favorite, and about five seconds ahead of the pack.
But Kuzma surged forward and ran Spence down, catching the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor 5K champion and indoor 5K runner-up in four laps before catapulting past her, opening up an 18 second gap in the final 1,000 meters to run away from Spence and the field for a stunning championship.
“My plan was to just stay in the middle of the pack and work my way up,” she said. “I was happy with how I was able to execute that during the race.”
Kuzma’s time of 15:58.57 makes her the 11th fastest indoor women’s 5,000 runner in the history of NCAA Division II.
It completes a meteoric rise for a runner that earned her first All-American honor last May in the outdoor 10K, and also received All-American honors in women’s cross country this fall.
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: How Hillsdale’s Allison Kuzma of Zeeland won NCAA D-II title in 5K
Reporting by Dan D’Addona, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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