Halterman’s Title Highlights TU’s Historic Finish at NAIA Championships

TU Women's Track NAIA National Champs Central

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Taylor women's indoor track and field program had a historic afternoon on the third and final day of the 2025 NAIA National Championships, as the Trojans finished fifth in the team standings and saw Jaynie Halterman shatter the NAIA record in the 5,000-meters on her way to the second individual national title of her young career.

The fifth place team finish was the highest-ever team finish for the Taylor women at Indoor Nationals and marked the eighth time in the past nine years that TU had placed inside the Top-25. It also marked a fourth time in the last five seasons that Taylor had finished inside the Top-15.

On their way to the historic showing, the Trojans set four new program records, broke one NAIA record, won an individual national championship and saw six student-athletes pile up eight All-American awards for their performances in four events.

Halterman led the way for Taylor and was the recipient of the 2025 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Outstanding Performance award after shattering the NAIA record in the 5,000-meters with a blistering time of 16:00.14 to top the previous record by nearly 21 seconds and the facility record by over 50 seconds.

Halterman won Saturday's race by 33 seconds over the runner-up to win TU's first individual NAIA Indoor National Championship since the Trojans claimed the 4x800-meter relay title in 2021.

The individual national title was also already Halterman's second with the Trojans, after the freshman also became Taylor's first-ever women's cross country individual national champion in the fall.

Halterman was just one of six Trojans to earn All-American honors on Saturday however, as Noel VanderWall, Abby Mays, Sam Patterson, Nicole Domene and Emersyn Funk joined Halterman in combining for TU's 35 points in the team standings.

The memorable day started with VanderWall setting a Taylor record in the mile and finishing fourth with a time of 4:52.58. Mays followed two hours later by narrowly missing an individual title in the 1,000-meters. Mays finished as the national runner-up with a time of 2:53.84.

With VanderWall and Mays having set the tone, Halterman and Sam Patterson took the track for the 5,000-meters and did not disappoint by finishing in first and fifth. Patterson followed Halterman in posting a personal-best time in the race with a mark of 17:12.92.

The TU distance-medley relay squad of Domene, Funk, Mays and VanderWall added one final record-setting effort to close the day for the Trojans, finishing second to lock Taylor into a top-five finish in the team standings. The group also broke the Taylor record with a time of 11:50.58.

Having finished second at the NAIA Cross Country National Championships in the fall and fifth in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships, Taylor will take high expectations into the outdoor season, which is set to begin on March 21 at Indiana Wesleyan.