White Punches Ticket to NCAA Nationals in 10,000 Meter Run

Thursday, May 28

Lexington, Ky.

6 PM

University of New Hampshire

NCAA Championships - First Round

Ruth White finished ninth in the 10,000m run at the NCAA East First Round to punch her ticket to the NCAA national championships.

Photo by: Eammon Ryan

5/28/2026 10:58:00 PM | Women's Track & Field

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sophomore Ruth White (Orono, Maine) of the University of New Hampshire women's track & field team raced to ninth place in the 10,000 meter run at the NCAA East First Round at the UK Track and Field Complex on Thursday night to advance to the NCAA national championship meet.

By finishing in the top 12 of the 10,000m national semifinals on Thursday, White advances to the 10,000m national final on Thursday, June 11 at the University of Oregon. White placed ninth in the 10,000m at the 2025 national championship meet to garner All-America Second Team.

White finished in ninth place with a season-best time of 33 minutes, 8.83 seconds – 21 seconds better than her seeded time of 33:29.85 established April 17 at the Virginia Challenge.

CLICK HERE to view PDF results for the 10,000m run.

White, who entered the East First Round seeded No. 27, surged to the front of the pack of 48 runners in the first lap and immediately pulled away from the group to build a lead of more than 100m four laps into the race with a 5:07.83 split in the first mile, which was more than 22 seconds ahead of the next runner.

A couple of runners began narrowing the gap in the next mile but White completed two miles in 10:23.60, which was still 16 seconds ahead of the next runner. Lily Murphy of Penn and Caren Kiplagat crossed the line with White through 4,800m (three miles) in 15:47.26.

White was in third place – less than a second behind second place – with a time of 20:59.35 through 6,400m (four miles); that time was within three seconds of leader Kiplagat. White continued to run directly behind Murphy in the next mile as the duo had a time of 26:16.36 through 8,000m.

A group of three runners passed White, as she was in sixth place through 8,400m and held steady there through 8,800 and 9,200m, which marked two laps remaining in the race.

White entered the bell lap in seventh place and ran a split of 1:23.47 in the final lap to finish in ninth place.

"Ruth's race was tremendously exciting," said Anna Magle-Haberek, the director of the women's and men's track & field and cross country programs. "She ran with a ton of courage and punched her ticket to nationals for the second year in a row. We're all very proud of the work she's put in and excited to see how she runs in Eugene."

Sophomore Sarah Moore (Lisbon, Maine) had an outstanding meet as she finished in 15^th place – 32 spots ahead of her No. 47 seed – with a mark of 6.10m (20 feet-0.25 inches) on the first of her three attempts. Moore followed with leaps of 5.96m and 6.05m to end her 2026 season, which included an America East conference title.

This is the second consecutive year Moore has competed in the long jump at the NCAA East First Round. She finished in 28^th place (5.94m) in 2025.

"I'm very impressed with Sarah's jumping today," Magle-Haberek said. "She competed very well. Coming in seeded 47^thand finishing 15^th is a tremendous improvement. We're looking forward to how far she can go in the future."

CLICK HERE to view PDF results for the long jump.