She's raced with dominance every time she's stepped foot on a cross country course this fall, and on Monday one of the top distance recruits in the Class of 2019 -- if not the No. 1 distance athlete -- chose her future home.
Saratoga Springs (NY) High senior Kelsey Chmiel committed to North Carolina State, per an announcement on Instagram.
The Wolfpack no doubt will benefit from the national-caliber and internationally experienced indoor and outdoor runner, who has earned a slew of accomplishments in her time in a Blue Streaks jersey. With exceptional range at the longer distances, Chmiel could excel in both cross country and track and field with North Carolina State right away.
Chmiel led the Team USA Junior team in January of this year at the Great Edinburgh XCountry Challenge, winning the 4K race in Scotland against international competition in 14:10.00. She was second at Nike Cross Nationals, second at New York Federations and second at the New York State Championships.
Chmiel is a 3-time qualifier for NXN who's finished in the top five all five seasons and already lowered her 5K PR in 2018 to 16:43.80 and her 3-mile best in 16:34.02.
She owns indoor PRs of 3:28.30 in the 1K, 4:25.45 in the 1500m and 9:21.11 in the 3K. Her outdoor personal bests have been even more impressive, with times of 4:23.8 in the 1500m, 9:18.09 in the 3K and 10:09.65 in the 2-mile.
Over the indoor season in 2018, she won a star-studded field at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix mile in 4:44.55 and was first at the New Balance Games race. She also owns a national title from the New Balance Nationals Outdoor 2-mile in 2017.
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