Rio Grande's Grace Forrest (far left) qualified for the national final in the Women's 3,000-meter race walk during Thursday's action at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Gainesville, Fla.

Posted: Feb 27, 2025

RedStorm's Forrest qualifies for national final

Rio Grande Sports Information
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Grace Forrest qualified for the championship race in the 3,000-meter race walk to lead the University of Rio Grande's efforts in Thursday's opening day of competition at the 2025 U.S. Marines NAIA Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship, hosted by the Gainesville Sports Commission at the Alachua County Sports and Events Center at Celebration Pointe.
Forrest, a redshirt junior from Woodstock, Ohio, earned her spot in Friday morning's final by finishing with the sixth-fastest mark (16:08.83) in the preliminary round.
The top four finishers from each of the two prelim heats - plus the next four fastest times - earned a berth to the title race, which is slated for 10:45 a.m.
Forrest's teammate, sophomore Rebecca Spohn (New Concord, OH), finished 17th with a time of 18:52.97.
Also on Thursday, junior Amarissa Kerns (Lancaster, OH) narrowly missed advancing to the finals of the 5,000-meter run.
Kerns, who was seeded second to last in the event, finished 13th overall in a personal-best time of 17:45.46.
The top four finishers from each of two heats, plus the next four quickest times, moved on to Friday's championship race.
The last of the RedStorm's four female qualifiers, sophomore Laura Hamm (South Point, OH), will compete in the 800-meter run prelims on Friday at 3:15 p.m.
Hamm had the 11th-best qualifying time in her event at 2:17.24.
The top two times in each of the three preliminary heats, plus the next two fastest marks will make the finals, which are set for Saturday at 2:20 p.m.
Live video of the national championship is available at http://www.NAIANetwork.com.