NEW ORLEANS – The Penn State women’s cross country and track & field programs ranked 13th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Program of the Year final standings, the organization announced Tuesday.
The Penn State women delivered one of their strongest combined seasons in 2025–26, to earn their best rank since the 2017-18 season. The season was highlighted by a second place finish in the Big Ten Cross Country Championships, the program’s best result since 2016. The Nittany Lions also recorded their highest number of All-Big Ten First Team selections since 2015 and their most overall All-Big Ten honors since 2016. Senior Hayley Kitching capped of the 2025-26 year recording the second-fastest time in NCAA history in the Women's 800m at the NCAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday, June 13.
Graduate Florence Caron earned her second consecutive All-Big Ten First Team honor, leading Penn State with a 19:51.7 in the 6k in the Big Ten Country Cross Championships. Senior Charlotte Costich followed in 20:11.7 to secure her first All-Big Ten First Team selection after placing eighth overall, while sophomore Ada Rand finished third for PSU in 20:23.3 to earn All-Big Ten Second Team recognition.
At the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, Penn State placed third as a team. Caron again led the way in 19:35.7, with Rand finishing ninth overall in 19:48.1. Senior Claire Daniels placed 14th in 19:54.7, followed by seniors Lea Hatcher (23rd, 20:07.6), and Allison Dougherty (26th, 20:12.6), and junior Claire Zubey (27th, 20:20.9), all of whom recorded personal bests.
The Nittany Lions went on to their third consecutive NCAA Championships appearance, finishing 10th as a team and improving five spots from the previous season. Caron led the squad with a 14th-place finish in 19:00.6, earning her second straight All-America honor and marking the highest NCAA finish by a Penn State runner in 25 years.
Transitioning to indoor track and field, senior Maddie Pitts set a program record in the pentathlon with 4,384 points to earn bronze at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. She posted the fastest 60-meter hurdles time in the field (8.34), placed third in both the long jump (6.24m) and shot put (12.91m), and finished fourth in the 800 meters (2:16.68).
Kitching captured gold in the 800 meters at the Big Ten Indoor Championships with a meet-record time of 2:00.05, breaking her own previous record of 2:03.19 set earlier in the competition.
At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Pitts placed fifth in the pentathlon to earn First-Team All-America honors, highlighted by multiple personal bests, including an 8.19 in the 60-meter hurdles. She closed with a fourth-place 800-meter run in 2:14.80 to secure her finish. Kitching placed 15th in the NCAA indoor 800 meters, earning Second-Team All-America honors.
The success carried into the outdoor season as Kitching opened the campaign by shattering the women's 1500-meter program record by nearly five seconds at the Virginia Challenge. The senior's time of 4:05.81 set a facility record and lowered her personal best by nearly 10 seconds. The following day, Kitching won the 800m in 2:02.65.
One week later, Kitching, along with sophomores Addyson White, and Alexandria North and graduate Marie-Loise LeClair combined to run 3:42.35 in the 4x400-meter relay, breaking the previous program record set in 2024 by 2.31 seconds.
On April 25, Kitching teamed with graduate Allison Johnson, sophomore Tayissa Buchanan and first-year Boh Ritchie to post a meet-winning 8:18.43 in the 4x800-meter relay, surpassing the previous program record set in 2023 by more than five seconds.
Kitching then captured the Big Ten title in the 800m with a time of 2:01.77. At the NCAA East Regionals, both Kitching and sophomore Sasha Garnett qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Garnett recorded a throw of 16.88 meters in the shot put, tying for the third-best mark in program history, while Kitching advanced to her third outdoor national championship meet by winning her 800-meter heat in 1:59.15.
At the NCAA Championships, Garnett closed her season with a 16.37m shot put to place 16th and earn her first career Second-Team All-America honors.
Kitching delivered a historic performance in the NCAA 800m final, running 1:57.65 to earn runner-up and earn First-Team All-America honors. Her time marked the second-fastest in NCAA women’s 800m history and dipped below the previous NCAA all-time record of 1:57.73 set by Athing Mu in 2021. Kitching finished second to Arkansas’s 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.