Women's Track & Field 3/9/2017 7:48:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Donahue Finishes 13th In 5,000-Meter Run At D2 Nationals

Long Distant Standout Is First Daemen Athlete To Qualify & Participate In National Championship Meet For Indoor Track & Field

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Daemen College track and field star Mackenzie Donahue (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) ran to a 13th-place finish in the 5,000-meter run competition at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field National Championship meet this evening at the Birmingham CrossPlex. In so doing, Donahue became the first indoor track and field athlete from Daemen to participate in a national championship event.

Donahue posted a time of 17:15.30 in the race tonight. She was edged for 12th place by Sasha Hovind of Northern State University who crossed the finish line in 17:15.05. The Daemen senior had entered the 17-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 participants who were seeded higher entering the race.

Junior Alexis Zeis of the University of Mary paced the field with a time of 16:23.22. She held off last-lap surge from Grand Valley State University senior Kendra Foley who finished as the runner-up with a time of 16:23.85. The last time Zeis and Foley met was at last November's NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship in St. Leo, Fla. where they also finished first and second, although it was Foley who won the individual national championship while helping GVSU capture the team title as well. All told, 13 of tonight's race participants also took part in the national cross country meet last fall with 10 of them earning top-30 finishes.

Foley was one of two returners to the 5,000-meter race from last year's national indoor track and field meet when she finished fifth last season with a time of 16:56.38. The additional returner was Hannah McIntyre of Hillsdale College who improved upon her 11th-place finish last season, bumping up to sixth place tonight with a time of 16:44.24.

Jenna Thurman of Adams State University (16:37.76), Eileen Stressling of Azusa Pacific University (16:38.06) and Morgan Benesch of the University of Nebraska-Kearney (16:39.56) rounded out the top-five finishers tonight.

Donahue qualified to participate by virtue of the time she posted at the East Coast Conference Championship meet on Feb. 24 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island, N.Y. There, she posted an ECC Championship meet and team record time of 17:00.75 which at the time ranked as the 15th fastest time in the country this season. It marked the second consecutive season that Donahue had won the 5,000-meter run at the conference championship meet while also posting a new meet record, shaving some 30 seconds off the previous mark (17:30.18) she established in 2016. The 5,000-meter run is Donahue's only race at the national championship meet which runs through Saturday.

Donahue is no stranger to success in racing. She became Daemen's first-ever national championship qualifier and participant in any sport at the NCAA Division II level when she raced in the 2015 Cross Country National Championship meet held in Joplin, Mo; she finished 69th out of 247 competitors. In 25 career cross country races, she posted 19 top-10 finishes and was Daemen's top finisher 22 times while posting All-East Region honors twice and All-ECC honors four times. For the indoor track and field team, Donahue holds five individual team records (800 meters, 1,000 meters, 1 mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters) and is also a part of the team record-holding 4x400-meter relay and distance medley teams. She's already been named an All-East Region performer this season by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen 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

Mackenzie Donahue: 5' 2"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Donahue
: 5' 2"; Senior

Mackenzie Donahue
: 5' 2"; Senior