AMHERST, N.Y. - Daemen College indoor track and field athlete Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) has been named an All-Region honoree by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) at both the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter distances.  

The top five individuals in each event in each region earned the All-Region distinction.  Donahue is one of 533 female All-Region honorees nationwide.  Daemen is a member of the NCAA Division II East Region which is comprised of the East Coast Conference, Northeast-10 Conference and Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference.

Donahue won both events at last week's East Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships held at Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y. on February 26, establishing new ECC Championship records in each race and leading Daemen to its best-ever finish at the meet (tied for fourth).  Donahue posted a time of 10:18.72 in the 3,000 meters - just three seconds off her school-record time she set earlier this season.  It was also a little less than a second better than the previous conference championship record of 10:19.31 set by Indira Avilla of Queens College in 2013.  She followed up with a time of 17:30.18 in the 5,000 meters, smashing the previous championship record of 17:44.88 set by Avilla in 2013.

The announcement of Donahue's All-Region selection marks the first such honor for a Daemen indoor track and field athlete at the NCAA Division II level.  It's just another in a long list of accomplishments for Donahue, academically a junior and eligibility-wise a redshirt-sophomore for indoor track.  Last fall, she was a first-team All-ECC and first-team All-Region performer for cross country, and she became Daemen's first national championship qualifier at the Division II level, competing in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships in Joplin, Mo. on November 21.  She was also a first-team All-ECC performer in the 3,000 meters during the 2014-15 indoor track and field campaign.

"It's great to see Mackenzie's success in cross country translate to fast times on the track," said Daemen's first-year head coach Paul Lagno.  "We essentially used the indoor season as a base phase to get ready for outdoors, so it's great to see her running this well without much specific pace work.  I'm excited for the next few months to see what she can do when she gets in some competitive races."

Donahue, who eclipsed the NCAA Division II National Championships provisional qualifying time in the 5,000 meters earlier this season, is awaiting word on if she'll be invited to the national championship meet to be held March 11-12 in Pittsburg, Kansas.