MARION, Ind. – Alauna Carstens (Jr.) from The Evergreen State College continued her All-American career by placing eighth in the women's 10,000-meter run at the 2025 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Wednesday, May 21. It was the fifth time Carstens has been an All-American in NAIA competition.

On Wednesday, her time in the 10,000-meter run was 35:47.91 as she finished eighth out of 21 runners. It was the first time Carstens has competed in the 10,000 at a national meet.

"Congrats to Alauna!" Evergreen Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Joel Pearson said. "This All-American honor is truly special! The last two weeks we have been battling hip pain and the only workout/threshold she has done in that time is her conference victory, with several days off. For her to decide to toe the line and dig deep for 35+ minutes, achieving her third All-American honor of the year.... is truly something special and means a lot to Coach Katie Burnett and myself. I couldn't be more proud of Alauna, or more proud to be a Geoduck today!"

Carstens held off Cammeo Ramirez of Southern Oregon University to secure All-American. Ramirez placed ninth in 35:48.75, as she completed the race 0.84 behind Carstens.

"Watching Alauna's race unfold was like watching an edge-of-your seat thriller movie," Evergreen Assistant Cross Country and Track and Field Coach Katie Burnett said. "The paces kept changing and Alauna stuck with it. The last lap was where Alauna really battled it out, coming down to the final 100m straightaway to seal her into eighth place. What a finish!"

Jaynie Halterman of Taylor College (Ind.) won the women's 10,000 with a time of 34:10.10. Heather Murphy from Montreat College (N.C.) was second in 34:35.49. Hannah Fredericks from The Master's University (Calif.) took third place in 35:08.52.

The All-American list for Carstens includes five different races. During 2024-25, she has earned All-American as the champion in the marathon, third place in the indoor 3,000-meter run, and eighth place in the 10,000-meter run. In the fall of 2023, she was All-American by earning 15th place nationally in cross country. Last spring, at the 2024 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Carstens was All-American when she placed seventh in the 5,000-meter run.

Evergreen will continue to compete at the 2025 NAIA Championships on Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23.

Izabelle Trefts (Jr.) is set to compete in the final of the women's 5,000-meter race walk on Thursday at 4:45 p.m. ET / 1:45 p.m. PT. Also on Thursday, Carstens is scheduled to compete in the prelims of the women's 5,000-meter run at 6:45 p.m. ET / 3:45 p.m. PT.

On Friday, Corona Parker (Sr.) will participate in the women's high jump, which will begin at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT. The finals in the women's 5,000-meter run are slated for 4:30 p.m. ET / 1:30 p.m. PT.