Wahconah graduate and UMass-Boston junior Aryianna Garceau was crowned the school's 21st National Champion at the 2025 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Rochester, N.Y., posting an historic time of 8.35 seconds in the women's 60-meter hurdles.

 

Her championship-winning performance is an NCAA DIII Championship meet record and places her among the top two hurdlers of all time in NCAA DIII, capping off an unforgettable season.

 

Garceau finished with an astonishing, record-breaking 8.35 seconds finish to conclude the season undefeated against NCAA DIII competition. She now holds a new NCAA DIII Championship Meet Record, surpassing Birgen Nelson's (Gustavus Adolphus) 8.39 seconds record set in 2023, and places her just 0.02 seconds behind Nelson's all-time DIII lead of 8.33 seconds. She also sits 0.01 seconds behind the New England leader Fabiola Belibi of Harvard, who leads all NCAA hurdlers in the region with a time of 8.34.

 

Garceau finishes the 2024-25 indoor season with a cabinet of achievements. She is a three-time All-Little East Conference First-Team honoree, the 2024-25 LEC Runner of the Year, a seven-time school record breaker, the facility record holder at the Golisano Training Center, and, in her first Indoor National Championship appearance, a gold medalist. Her achievements this indoor season are among the most captivating and successful in UMass Boston's recent track and field history.

 

In UMass-Boston coach Ozzie Brown's first season with the Beacons' track and field team, Brown developed Garceau, who was coming off an outdoor All-American performance, and gave her the tools necessary to achieve her goal of a national championship. Brown saw the vision and spoke it into existence while assisting Garceau in bringing the objective to fruition. 

 

"I knew she was capable of running sub-8.4, but to actually see it in person is something special," Brown said in a news release from the college. "When I first got the job and sat down with her and planned out the entire year, on paper, it seemed simple. Execute from week to week. There were a few hiccups along the way, but she's such a warrior and can overcome anything. This championship could not have gone to a more deserving and hardworking young woman, and as I told her, 'this is just the beginning.' "

 

Last weekend, Garceau opened her outdoor season with strong performances at the Black and Gold Invitational in Orlando, Fla.