FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Graduate student Kaley Richards (Lowell, Mass.) turned in an impressive showing on Saturday, finishing fourth in the mile as the first ever UMass Lowell participant at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
"Kaley has certainly now set the bar for the program to be able to compete at that level," said Head Coach Gary Gardner. "She ran fabulous. Very controlled, very mature racing for someone that hasn't run with this level of competition before and this kind of pressure. She has really high expectations for herself, which is one of the big reasons why she's here."
 
Richards finished the race in a time of 4:36.26. Sage Hurta, a senior from Colorado, became the 2021 National Champion in the event with a time of 4:30.58.  
 
"She was the only runner in that final that wasn't from a Power Five school," added Gardner. "And all of the competition had a full indoor season, running six to 10 different meets. We were lucky to get Kaley into two races to get her here, so she came at it from a much different spot. When you look at that and what she's achieved, all of the other kids in our program can look at that and realize they can compete with anybody in the country. I think it's going to be a big boost for our program overall."
 
With the performance, Richards shaved over a second off the personal best she set in last night's trials and yet again set a new school. Richards was also honored as a Division I First-Team All-American for her efforts.
 
The River Hawk settled in towards the back of the 10-person pack for the first half of the race. She then turned up her pace and began to slide up, and by the three-quarter mark, she was in fifth to set her up for a strong finish.
 
"We weren't sure how the race was going to play out, so with it being her first time here, we were a little conservative in our approach," concluded Gardner. "She just missed that front pack getting away from her, but closed just as well as they did. Next time we're out here, we'll probably be a little bit more aggressive, but everything played out the way we were hoping. We wanted her to stay relaxed, and be able to close and finish as high as she could. We're super pleased."
 
Richards will now travel to Oklahoma State to compete for a cross country national championship on Monday.