Cordani 10K National Champ! Regan Runner-up

Cordani 10K National Champ! Regan Runner-up

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RESULTS

GENEVA, OHIO – It took just one event for the No. 4 Ithaca College women's track & field team to secure a national title at the 2017 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio, as junior Taryn Cordani won the 10,000-meter race in a time of 34:41.11.

Stevens Institute of Technology senior Amy Regan finished second in the race to claim her 13th career All-American honor.

In rainy conditions at SPIRE Institute, Regan got off to a strong start, grabbing the lead in the opening lap with a first-lap time of 1:16.185. Regan held on to the lead for the first five laps before Cordani made her move to the front of a four-runner pack (Cordani, Regan, Felecia Koerner of Johns Hopkins and Audrey Miller of Loras) at the 6:40 mark and maintained that lead up until lap 16 (12:50).

By the 20:13 mark of the race, Cordani and Regan began to lap the remainder of the field, which forced the runners to weave in-and-out of Lane 1. Just 42 seconds later, Regan regained the lead and held a steady pace through lap 18. 

Cordani made her move back to the front at 26:17 (Lap 19). With five laps to go (28:35), Cordani and Regan began to pull away from the other two runners in the lead pack.

Cordani and Regan stayed close to each other over the final mile, but with two laps to go, Cordani began to separate herself and made her final kick to the finish line. She led Regan by nearly three seconds heading to the final lap, but turned it on and ran her fastest lap of the race at 1:14.597 over the final 400 meters.

Her time of 34:41.11 is the fifth-fastest time in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships dating back to 1982, and the fastest performance since 2005. The only times better than Cordani's were 33:50.32 (1983), 34:36.60 (1984), 34:08.59 (2003) and 34:00.43 (2005).

Cordani and Regan will run again on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the 5,000-meter run. Regan is seeded second with a time of 16:33.62. Pomona-Pizer's Maya Weigel holds the top qualifying time (16:28.94) and Cordani (16:35.71) is seeded third.