NCAA Championships
Gaffney Caps Off Stellar Season at NCAA Championships
11/22/2025 10:00:00 AM | Cross Country
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The lone representative from the Big West to qualify for the national meet, Cal Poly junior Kelli Gaffney capped off a sensational cross country season at the NCAA Championships on Saturday morning in Columbia, Missouri.
Competing against over 260 of the nation’s best runners, Gaffney placed 177th overall with a Gans Creek Cross Country Course personal best 6K time of 20:25.8. She improved upon the time she ran on the exact same course just over a month ago at Pre-Nationals by nearly 15 seconds (20:40.0).
The race wrapped up an historic season for the Temecula, Calif. native. Gaffney earned an individual berth to the NCAA Championships with a breakout performance at the NCAA West Regional last week in Sacramento, finishing 16th overall to earn All-Region honors and became Cal Poly’s highest finisher on the women’s side at the regional meet since Peyton Bilo placed ninth in 2016.
Gaffney’s performance helped the Cal Poly women’s cross country team secure eighth at the West Regional for the third straight season and the fourth time in the last eight years — tied for their third highest finish in program history at the meet. The 2023 Great Oak High grad secured an individual berth to nationals by being one of the top four finishers at the West Regional meet that was not on a team that qualified for the NCAA Championships.
Gaffney was the first Cal Poly runner to compete at the national meet on the women’s side since both Miranda Daschian and Katie Izzo qualified for the 2018 meet. She was also the first Mustang overall to take part in the NCAA Cross Country Championships since Davis Bove represented the men as an individual in 2023, placing 108th.
