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 4×800 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.

A day later, Kitching joined graduate Allison Johnson, sophomore Tayissa Buchanan and first-year Boh Ritchie in the 4×800 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 to win gold. At the NCAA East First Round, she advanced to her third outdoor national championship meet by winning her 800m 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 800m.