NCAC Release

CLEVELAND -- Three former distance runners from the Allegheny College women's track and field team were named to the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) 40th Anniversary Women's Outdoor Track and Field All-Decade Team.

Olivia Mamula '18, Emily Forner '19, and Sarah Lucas '21, winners of back-to-back-to-back NCAC Distance Athlete of the Year awards, were all included on the 40th Anniversary Team.

The NCAC is celebrating its 40th playing season by selecting All-Decade teams in all 23 championship sports. Student-athletes who competed in the NCAC between the 2013-14 and the 2022-23 seasons and earned Player of the Year honors or who earned a minimum of three All-NCAC first-team nods during this time were named to the team.

In women's track and field, 28 student-athletes were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments.

Mamula had a record-breaking senior season in 2018. At the NCAC Outdoor Championships, she clocked in with personal-record times and won both the 1,500-meter run and 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her time of 4:35.87 in the 1,500-meter race ranks fourth all-time, while her 10:48.16 in the steeplechase is an Allegheny record. An NCAA qualifier, Mamula, a native of nearby Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, placed 15th at the Division III national championships that spring.

A national champion in the indoor 3,000-meter run, Forner was a three-time NCAC outdoor champion and a six-time All-NCAC selection outdoors. After winning the 5,000-meter race as a junior, she captured the 1,500- and 5,000-meter titles as a senior in 2019. Forner qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in the 5K in both 2018 and 2019 and placed 16th nationally as a senior. In April of that year, the Beaver, Pennsylvania, native set a program record in the 5K with a time of 16:33.01 at Bucknell's Bison Outdoor Classic.

After the 2020 conference championships were canceled during the global pandemic, Lucas returned to win two gold medals in 2021. Originally from Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Lucas ran PRs and finished atop the podium in both the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:11.23) and the 5K (18:27.27). Her time in the steeplechase is the fifth-best in team history. She also placed fourth in the 1,500-meter run and helped the Gators win the NCAC team championship, Allegheny's first in 13 years.