Lesley Boyd at SoCon Championships
photo by Southern Conference
Less than an hour after the sun set in Jacksonville, Fl., Chattanooga distance runner Lesley Boyd lined up with the best in the East for the 10,000 meter run Thursday night in the NCAA East Region Championships on the University of North Florida campus.
The Dayton, Tenn., native was seeded 20th at the start and looking for a Top 12 finish to qualify for the National Championships in two weeks in Eugene, Ore.
She battled runners from Auburn, Syracuse and Penn State throughout and finished just two seconds off the Chattanooga program record she set earlier this season at the Raleigh Relays, placing 15th overall with a time of 33:25.15.
“While it may not have been the result that Lesley desired, we all know she wanted to be in Eugene,” Mocs assistant coach Patrick Gildea said. “She caps a career as a Chattanooga Moc that will eventually finish as a hall of famer.”
The graduate student started out in the middle of the pack and climbed her way through to get just seconds off the lead. However, as the front pack pulled away midway through the race, she found herself holding up the front of the second group. She kept up her pace running a 1:19.39 in the final lap, placing just three spots off qualifying.
Boyd closes out a stellar career as a cross country national qualifier and a three-time record holder for Chattanooga track and field.
She earned all-region status in cross country with a Top 10 finish at the 2024 NCAA South Region Championships, becoming the Mocs first NCAA national qualifier since All-American Teghan Henderson in 2013.
Last season in indoor track, she broke the 3000 meter record set by All-American Shannon Wommack by more than nine seconds at the Music City Challenge.
This year, Boyd claimed the UTC outdoor track and field records in the 5000- and 10,000 meter runs. She bested the mark set in the 10,000 meter in 2006 by Wommack by more than 11 seconds. In April she set a new mark in the 5000 meter at the Lee University Fast Break Invitational of 16:09.46, breaking the record set by Henderson in 2014.
“I am so incredibly proud of Lesley,” Gildea said. “What she’s done for this program will be notice for years to come.”
NCAA East Region Championships – 10,000 Meter
15. Lesley Boyd 33:25.15
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