Chicago, Ill.— On Friday, May 23rd, Olivia Jameson completed the high jump competition at the 2025 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championship, officially marking the end of the 2024-2025 Illinois Tech Track and Field season. The season is a long one, and there's a lot to recap.  

Looking at both the indoor and outdoor seasons, the growth of the team is abundantly evident. On the men's side, three school records were broken in the indoor season and two outdoors. The women broke six records indoors, increasing that stat to eight in the outdoor season. Jameson also became the first athlete in Illinois Tech history to compete in 5 National Championships.  

And the team isn't just improving compared to themselves—they're improving in the conference too. The women's team posted their highest conference finish ever, placing 5th in both the indoor and outdoor NACC Championships. They also scored the most points at a conference meet, men's or women's, with 52 points at this year's outdoor competition. The men scored the most points they have since 2021 with 30 at the outdoor championships this year. 

The men's school records are brought to you by just three athletes: Ajibola Claudius-Akinyemi, Peter Mayer, and Finnick Poulin. Claudius-Akinyemi, a senior from Lagos, Nigeria, grabbed the school record in the 200 meter-dash both indoor and outdoor in times of 22.60 and 21.72 respectively. He also lowered the school record in the 100-meter dash by nearly half a second, running 10.73 at the NACC finals. This performance also won him the first NACC gold in the 100m in Illinois Tech history. 

Despite a season plagued by injury, Mayer—a transfer from the men's basketball team—managed to break the school record in the indoor 400, running a 50.71 in his first attempt at the event. If he can manage to stay healthy, there will almost certainly be more records in his name after next season.  

Poulin, also a junior, posted a school record 3397 points in the indoor heptathlon and placed 4th in the conference in the outdoor decathlon for the highest NACC finish in school history.  

The women's record books saw a smorgasbord of names and times on top, some new and some old. Olivia Jameson raised her school record in the high jump both indoors and outdoors to 1.72m and 1.73m, respectively. Amelia Moseman lowered her school records in the 400-meter dash to 58.21 indoors and 56.80 outdoors. Moseman also added her name to the books under the 800-meter dash, lowering the indoor and outdoor school records to 2:19.21 and 2:17.17. The previous 800-meter school records had stood for 13 and 16 years.  

First-year Annaelle Mukash had a breakout outdoor season, breaking school records in both the 100- and 200-meter dash. Mukash ran 12.28 and 25.64 through the two events and tied the indoor 60-meter dash school record held by Jameson in a time of 8.24. With a season under her belt, it will be exciting to see what Mukash can do in the coming years.  

Similarly, freshman Kailey Nicholas set two school records in the triple jump in her first year as a Scarlet Hawk, breaking the indoor record with a jump of 10.61 meters and the outdoor record in 10.74 meters. She also tied the outdoor long jump record with a jump of 4.99m.  

Both the 4x100 (Jameson, Zoe Turner, Moseman, Mukash) and 4x400 (Jameson, Pullen, Turner, Moseman) relay teams had impressive performances to top the record books. The 400 meter relay team broke the previous record by 2.73 seconds in a time of 49.91. The 4x400 team broke the indoor record in 4:07.01 (previous being 4:11.74) and the outdoor record in 4:01.37, the latter being a 9 second drop from the previous record of 4:10.30.  

There were plenty of other additions to the top-10 all time lists that there's not enough space on the web to list.  

While the future of the team is bright, the Hawks are also graduating a class of seniors whose impact will be greatly missed.  

On the distance side Joey Loriso, Nicholas Quigley, Alejandro Torres, Andrew Farber and Valerie Lending paced the team with Loriso earning all-conference honors with the cross-country team and holding the school record in the indoor 5000 meter run.  

Sprinters Moseman, Claudius-Akinyemi and Bjarne Van Oord (also of Swimming & Diving) have made a big impact in their time on the team with 12 school records held between them.  

In the field, Javier Bernal, AJ Pandey, Anand Purushothaman, Bella Ortiz, Adela Rivas, Jada Mulrow, and Maria Plencner have jumped and thrown far for the Scarlet Hawks in their careers. Bernal placed 4th in the NACC championships in the javelin throw, contributing to the men's high scoring. Bernal, Ortiz, Plencner, and Mulrow all hold spots on the top-10 lists for their performances.  

From Head Coach Tyler McQuality: "I'm incredibly proud of our Track & Field season as a whole. We saw tremendous growth throughout the year, highlighted by numerous all-conference performances. Just as importantly, I believe our team culture is in a great place, and our expectations continue to rise with each passing season. As I wrap up my 7th year and look ahead to my 8th at the helm of this program, I'm more excited than ever about what's to come. I also want to sincerely thank every member of our team for the hard work, commitment, and belief they've shown in helping us build something special—something we know can reach even greater heights in future seasons!"  

Indeed, greater heights are in store for Illinois Tech Track and Field. Tune in next season to see what they will accomplish!