NEW ORLEANS – Senior Hayley Kitching of the Penn State Track and Field team has been named the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Track Athlete of the Year, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Thursday afternoon.
Kitching delivered a historic outdoor track and field season. Her outdoor campaign began with a record-breaking performance in the 1500m at the Virginia Challenge, where she shattered the program record by nearly five seconds. The senior's time of 4:05.81 set a facility record and lowered her personal best by nearly 10 seconds. The following day, she won the 800m in 2:02.65.
At the Penn Relays, Kitching helped Penn State break program records in both the Sprint Medley Relay and the 4x800 relay. On April 24, Kitching teamed with sophomores Addyson White and Alexandria North and graduate Marie-Eloise LeClair to run 3:42.35 in the Sprint Medley Relay, breaking the previous program record set in 2024 by 2.31 seconds.
One day later, Kitching joined graduate Allison Johnson, sophomore Tayissa Buchanan and first-year Boh Ritchie in the 4x800 relay. The quartet posted a meet-winning time of 8:18.43, eclipsing the previous program record set in 2023 by more than five seconds.
Kitching then captured the Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field title in the 800m with a time of 2:01.77. At the NCAA East Regionals, she advanced to her third outdoor national championship meet by winning her 800-meter heat in 1:59.15.
Kitching capped her outdoor campaign with a historic performance in the NCAA 800m final, running 1:57.65 to finish runner-up and earn First-Team All-American honors. Her time marked the second-fastest performance in NCAA women's 800m history and surpassed the previous NCAA all-time record of 1:57.73 set by Athing Mu in 2021. Kitching finished second to Arkansas' Sanu Jallow, who set a new collegiate record of 1:56.85 to win the national title. Kitching also became the first athlete in Penn State program history to break the two-minute barrier in the 800 meters.