National Champion: WC’s Faith Duncan wins 5,000m run at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

It was a historical night Saturday for the Wilmington College women's track & field team. Sophomore Faith Duncan won the 5,000 Meter Run to become the third Outdoor National Champion in the Ron Combs era (since 1997).

She is the first national champion since 2006 and the first ever to win a distance event. Her 10 points tied the Quakers for 20th overall as a team.

Duncan (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon HS) ran a time of 16:44.12 to knock off a pair of tough competitors to win the title in Grace Hadley of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Fiona Smith from the College of Saint Benedict.

Coming into the event, Hadley finished fourth in the 2023 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, won the National Championship in the indoor mile and was a part of the national champion DMR team indoors. Smith's résumé was even more impressive as she won the 2023 cross country national championship and the 3,000- and 5,000-Meter National Championships during the indoor season. She had also won the 10,000 Meter Run national title on Thursday night.

However, just before the final lap, Duncan made her kick and blew past the field and won by several meters to forever etch her name into Wilmington College history.

This concludes Wilmington's season in one of the best ways possible. They will be back in action next winter for the 2023-24 Indoor Track & Field season.

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