Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Patriot League Indoor Championships
Women’s Track and Field Finish Third in Patriot League Indoor Championships
March 02, 2025 | Women's Track and Field
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Army West Point Women's Track and Field earned a third-place finish in the Patriot League Indoor Championships.
Army finished third place with 139.5 points, with Boston U finishing first with 166 total points and Navy finishing second with 148.5 points.
The Black Knights saw three first-place finishes throughout the entire two-day meet, in the 4x800m relay, the shot put and the high jump.
For the 4x800m relay, Hannah Andrews, Alma Lazo-Cazares, Skye Chambers and Mikayla Cheney claimed gold in a dominant race. The four ran a second fastest time in the meet's history at 8:49.02, also setting a new Army program record.
Emily Fink would earn the top spot in the women's shot put with a 15.77m (51'9") final mark. Jordan Hecht would go on to finish second in the event with a 15.6m (151'2¾") throw.
Finally, the final first-place finish came in the women's high jump. Zoe Whaley won her first major title in the high jump with a new personal best of 1.71m (5' 7.5"). With her win, Whaley earned the first Patriot League high jump championship for Army, dating back to the formation of the conference in 1991.
Apart from the first-place finish, several athletes also saw several top finishes. In the women's weight throw, Emily Fink claimed second place with an 18.39m (60 feet) throw. Kalliauna Powers would also claim third place in the long jump with a 5.96m (19'6¾") mark.
Three athletes had top finishes in the 5000m run. Charlotte Richman finished second with a 16:32.03 time, Claire Lewis earned third with a 16:45.05 time and Louisa Diamond finished fourth with a 16:48.27 time. At the end of the event, the Black Knights gained 19 points for their team score.
Zoe Eggleston also saw a top finish in the women's pentathlon, finishing second in the event in her final indoor meet of her colligate career. Her performance was highlighted by a 2:18.88 800m time, a personal best that helped her clinch the second place finish and eight points for Army's team score.
Faith Kibbe set a personal best in the 400m, finished seventh in the event with a 56.80 time, as well as led off the 4x400m.
Erin Allert earned a fifth-place finish in the triple jump with an 11.59m (38'0¼"). Skye Chambers placed third in the 800m with a personal best 2:09.03 time.
Some of the biggest contributors to Army's third-place finish overall were Mikayla Cheney and Charlotte Richman who combined for 37.5 points.
Mikayla Cheney set a program record in the mile (4:40.71), anchored a record-breaking 4x800m relay (8:40.03), and placed fourth in the 3000m.
Charlotte Richman scored 22 points, placing second in both the 5000m and 3000m and third in the mile.
Hear From Coach Smith:
Day One:
We have little room for error in the women's scoring if we want to compete for a title tomorrow. Our scoring went almost exactly as expected today. The good part about that is that we have the people in place we need to score high tomorrow. The downside of it is that we didn't overperform and we didn't get very lucky today. Zoe Eggleston ('25), closed out her indoor career with a runner-up finish in the women's pentathlon. She was sitting in third place going into the final event (800m) and needed a strong run there to give herself a shot at the win. She ran an aggressive race from the front and finished with a huge personal best of 2:18.88. It almost got her the win, but not quit. She has always been a hard worker and it was great to see her be rewarded for her exceptional work ethic with a runner-up finish. Emily Fink ('25) claimed a runner-up finish in the weight throw today and although I know she wanted to win, she just couldn't put together a big enough throw to make it happen. In the long jump, Kalliaunna Powers had the best series of her life and claimed a podium finish. Her best jump of 5.96m (19'6") was good enough for her to sit in first place for much of the competition. Two other jumpers passed her in the final and she hung on for third. Going into the weekend Kalliaunna was ninth on our all-time list in the long jump but today's mark moved her up to No. 4 all-time. On the track, we claimed our biggest point haul in the women's 5,000 meters. Charlotte Richman ('26) claimed the runner-up spot with a strong effort. She knew she would be chasing the Boston runner the entire race and that is how it developed. Charlotte has taken her training to a new level this year. She gained a lot of experience this fall in the cross-country season and that has carried over to the track. She challenged for the lead most of the race but the BU runner pulled away late and Charlotte settled for the runner-up finish. Behind her, there was a lot of hard work going on with Claire Lewis ('26) and Louisa Diamond ('27). Those two women have been stalwarts on the varsity cross country team and their training this winter has been very strong. They raced with a lot of confidence, and it paid off with third and fourth-place finishes. The 19 team points that we scored was not a surprise. We planned to have a good showing in the 5k but planning and executing are two different things and the women did a great job of executing. They were locked in on the plan from the gun and ran a smart patient race only cranking up the pace when they knew they could take it all the way to the finish line. They looked strong. Our lone win on the day for the women came in the 4x800m relay. We felt like we had the best team on paper, and we put the best team on the starting line. The women did the rest. We struggled with how best to set up the order of the women and in the end, we went with experience on the first leg, a fresh second leg, and two of the most dependable competitors on our team to close it down. Hannah Andrews ('25) led us off with a smart patient race. Hannah was disappointed in not advancing to the final in the open 800m and we were concerned that she might not have the legs to manage the difficult double. She relieved us of any concern as she patiently closed the gap on the leader after one lap and nearly handed off with the lead at the first exchange. Alma Lazo-Cazeres ('28) was our second runner and knowing that she might have been the only fresh runner in the field, she bolted right to the lead and held it until she was passed with two laps remaining. Alma didn't panic after getting passed and got right back to the shoulder of the leader at the third exchange where she handed off to Skye Chambers ('27). Skye did exactly what we expected her to do and got out hard and fast and broke the entire field. She extended our lead and by the time she handed off to Mikayla Cheney ('27), we had a commanding 20-30m lead on the field. Mikayla kept her foot on the gas, and we won with the second-fastest time in the history of the meet (8:49.02) setting a new Academy record in the process. It was a convincing win. We qualified well in all of the track events and we are in a good spot to score well tomorrow if we can continue to execute.
Day Two:
After qualifying yesterday, I thought it would take 160-170 points to win the meet. There were a couple of scenarios where I thought we could maybe get to 160. But in the end, we needed other teams to make some major mistakes for us to get there and that just didn't happen. We have to get better. I told our team that we had the personnel to win a championship. And I believe that. But we need to be very exact in almost everything we do to get to that end-state and some mistakes here and there cost us the chance to compete for a trophy today. Even though we finished third, there are a lot of positives that came from this meet that indicate to me that we are getting close. Our team is young, but we showed a lot of maturity this weekend. Jordan ('27) Hecht's runner-up performance in the shot put was a statement. Jordan is the heir apparent to Emily Fink ('25) who won today's shot put title. Jordan was good a year ago as a plebe and is now showing some real chops in some of the other throwing events. She will be a force in this conference for the next 2 years. Olivia Reed ('27) scored in both the long jump and the 60m. She set a huge PR yesterday in advancing to today's final in the 60m and her long jump has also come far from a year ago. Zoe Whaley ('26) won her first major title today in the high jump with a new personal best. Zoe came very close to clearing 1.71m at the indoor Star meet so today was a sweet redemption. She got it on her first attempt and great attempts at 1.74m. Her win today was significant for the 10 points that she scored for the team but it was an historic win as well. With her win today, Zoe became the first Patriot League high jump champion for Army in the history of the Patriot League dating back to the formation of the conference in 1991. A 34-year drought. A remarkable accomplishment for sure. Her jump moved her to number five on the Army's all-time list in the high jump. Faith Kibbe ('28) set a personal best in the 400 yesterday and then finished seventh today in the 400 and led off our 4x400m relay with a very strong performance. We have been getting great results from Faith all season. She is gritty, determined and very coachable. What we are seeing now is only the beginning of what I think will be a very solid career. Erin Allert ('27) won the Star Meet triple jump in what at the time was a bit of a surprise. She followed that up today by finishing fifth in the triple jump. She will keep getting better. Skye Chambers ('27) set a new personal best in the 800 (2:09.03) with her third-place finish. Skye came into the year having never run a competitive 800m race indoors and only having run one collegiate 800m outdoors last year. She matured rapidly and closed out the indoor season with the best performance of her career. Skye has hovered around the edges of excellence all season. She hasn't quite mastered the nuances of how to race the 800 indoors. Today, she placed herself right in the race and rode the shoulder of the eventual champion to the last 150m. And although she couldn't match the speed of the top 2 over the last 100 meters, she certainly put herself in a position to challenge them. She runs with a maturity that is well beyond her experience level and we saw that today. The two women who beat her had personal best marks that were three to four seconds better than what Skye has ever run. She didn't shy away from the challenge at all. We told her what to do and she did it. Skye has competitive grit that you can't teach. It didn't result in a win today but eventually, it will. Our two biggest young monsters are Mikayla Cheney ('27) and Charlotte Richman ('26). Those two women accounted for 37.5 points. Mikayla set a new school record in the mile (4:40.71), anchored our 4x800 to victory with a new school record and new service academy record time (8:40.03) last night, and finished fourth in the 3000m today with a new personal best. I have spoken about Mikayla for two years now and she keeps giving me more to talk about. She hasn't won an individual conference title yet because there is a young woman from Boston University who is one of the best young runners on the planet. So the greatness that we are accustomed to has been overshadowed at the conference level by another star from another team. Despite the great performances, the records and the fast times, Mikayla left the track today unsatisfied. She is wired to win. And while she appreciates the records and the fast times, there is an edge to her personality that can't be softened or soothed without crossing the line first. That's what drives her. She has the "it" factor that champions all possess. A relentless will and refusal to be satisfied with anything other than winning. Mikayla and Charlotte Richman ('26) share that common gift. They possess two different personalities but the same "it" factor. Charlotte scored 22 points at this meet spread across three events. She finished second in the 5k, second in the 3k and third in the mile. It was a gusty triple. She relished every bit of it. Charlotte lives on the edge of pain and suffering in almost every race that she runs. She has the kind of motor that just goes from idle to red zone without a stop in between. We have worked hard to help her measure effort differently and she has started to really master the intricacies of racing. Whereas a year ago she would run so hard that she would stagger to the finish line, we have seen a much more measured approach from her this year that has paid off in huge personal best times and powerful finishing kicks that have resulted in wins. She has become a major threat in our conference and is on the cusp of putting down some higher-level performances that compare to the top performers in the country. She isn't there yet, but she can see the path to that level and we get to watch her go for it. We won the Patriot League Cross country title in the fall, so it wasn't a surprise that we scored the most points of any team at the meet today in the events 800 meters on up to the 5k. Charlotte and Mikayla led us in that accomplishment. It wasn't enough to get us a trophy but the pieces are in place for us to challenge for a trophy outdoors. That season will begin in a couple of weeks.
Players Mentioned
