ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Carleton College junior Hannah Preisser earned her fourth career All-America award after finishing in eighth place during the 5,000-meter run at the 2025 NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
"This season, one of Hannah's focuses was to work on her finish kick," said Carleton head coach Donna Ricks. "In order to do that, she needed to adjust her race strategy. Hannah likes to get off the line quick and take the lead. Prior to the MIAC Championships, we discussed settling in and not taking the lead to mimic the structure that she needed to implement at the national championships to have a shot at being All American, as we believed she could achieve that goal."
 
Implementing this new strategy, Preisser sat in 17th place in the 20-runner field after the first 1,000-meters. She made a move on the outside and improved four spots during the next lap then shifted between 11th, 12th, and 13th places over the next 1,600 meters of the race.
 
Preisser spent her final 10 trips around the 200-meter track at the Golisano Training Center battling for a spot in the top-8.
 
"Hannah did an amazing job, raced with confidence, and implemented the structure perfectly which set her up to have a strong finish kick and become an All-American." Ricks said. "I am so proud of Hannah's effort; she really battled down the finish stretch."
 
Preisser and Ainara Sainz de Rozas of Concordia University Wisconsin were locked in a tight battle throughout the 25-lap contest, with neither able to create even a 0.5-second advantage at any point. On the final lap, they both passed Allison Dell of Lynchburg College to move into First-Team All-America position (top-8). The sprint to the finish was close as Sainz de Rozas crossed the line at 17:03.77 with Preisser only 0.01 second behind at 17:03.78, the second-fastest 5K time of her career.
 
This is the fourth time that Preisser has competed at the NCAA Track & Field Championships and the first time that she has secured All-America recognition. Her other three All-America awards have come in cross country.
 
Hananh Preisser's performances at NCAA Championships
Cross Country
2022   --   15th place (All-America)
2023   --   14th place (All-America)
2024   --   7th place (All-America)
Indoor Track & Field
2023   --   5,000m – 15th place
2025   --   5,000m – 8th place (All-America)
Outdoor Track & Field
2023   --   10,000m – 17th place
2024   --   10,000m – 17th place