Mackenzie Donahue cemented her legacy as one of the top athletes to come through Daemen tonight

Women's Track & Field 5/25/2017 11:00:00 PM Lea Sobieraski, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Donahue Finishes 9th In 10,000-Meter Run At D2 Nationals

Long Distance Standout Caps Career With 2nd Team All-America Honors

BRADENTON, Fla. – Daemen College track and field star Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) completed her final race as a Wildcat, running to a ninth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run competition at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championship meet this evening at IMG Academy.

Donahue posted a time of 35:55.69 in the race tonight, finishing ninth overall. The Daemen senior had entered the 21-participant field as the No. 15 seed (runners were seeded based on the best time they posted in a meet this season). She finished ahead of four runners who were seeded higher entering the race.

Her ninth-place finish earned Donahue second-team All-America recognition; the top eight finishers receive first-team acknowledgment, while finishers nine through 12 earn second-team honors. Donahue becomes the fourth Daemen athlete to garner All-American honors at the NCAA Division II level, joining former men's basketball player Gerald Beverly (Rochester, N.Y./Gates Chili) who was an honorable mention All-American selection by the Daktronics/Division II Conference Commissioners Association for the 2014-15 season, former men's basketball player Torrence Dyck (Rochester, N.Y./San Jacinto College) who was named an honorable mention All-American by Division II Bulletin, and volleyball player Ashley Drzymala (West Seneca, N.Y./St. Mary's of Lancaster) who was named an honorable mention All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association last fall.

Donahue's 25th and final lap of the race was her fastest of them all, clocking in at 1:15.80. In the 24th lap, Donahue ran 1:27.01 and entered the last leg trailing the tenth-place finisher Micki Krzesinski of Fort Has State University. Donahue's determination in the final lap propelled her ahead of Krzesinski, giving her the ninth-place finish.

Senior Kendra Foley of Grand Valley State University paced the field with a time of 34:36.21. Foley finished as the runner-up in the 5,000-meter run at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championship meet back in March, where Donahue placed 13th. Junior Alexis Zeis of the University of Mary, who ousted Foley for the indoor 5,000-meter national crown, placed fourth tonight with a time of 35:05.79.

Donahue qualified to participate in tonight's race by virtue of her fastest 10,000-meter time of the season, which she posted at the Brockport Invitational on April 14, 2017. Donahue won the 10,000-meter race there with a school-record time of 35:35.11 which at the time ranked first in the country for all female Division II runners competing at this distance this season. Donahue went on to win the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter distances at the East Coast Conference Championship meet on April 22. She established a new ECC Championship benchmark with her time of 38:31.11 in the 10,000-meter race, and posted a 5,000-meter time of 17:15.80. For her achievements, Donahue was named an All-Region honoree in both the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter races by the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association.

A three-time Daemen College Female Athlete of the Year, Donahue became Daemen's first-ever national championship qualifier and participant in any sport at the NCAA Division II level back in 2015 when she competed in the national championship meet for cross country. She would add national championship berths for both indoor and outdoor track and field to finish her career with three national championship appearances. She ended her cross country career last fall with 19 top-10 finishes (in 25 career racers) and was also Daemen's top finisher 22 times over her career, while earning All-ECC honors for four-straight years and All-East Region honors for two consecutive seasons. Her historic indoor track season included five individual team records, repeating as ECC champion in both the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs. Donahue will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest all-time athletes to come through Daemen College.

For continuing coverage of the Daemen College men's and women's track and field teams, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTRACK on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Donahue: 5' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Donahue
: 5' 2"; Senior