The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1536961
JULY/AUGUST 2025 ■ 41 BY MATT HERB G race Hartman turned in a series of impressive performances during the 2024-25 athletics year, and one of the keys was a revelatory insight: The way to succeed was to stop worrying so much about success. "We always put so much of an invest- ment into the results that we have, and I've really gotten caught up in that in the past," Hartman told Citius Mag in June. "I realized throughout the season that by not doing that, I'm running significantly better. I've been able to accomplish some things that I didn't necessarily expect this season." By focusing on the pure enjoyment of running rather than the results, Hartman accomplished a lot during her junior cam- paign. That's why she's The Wolfpacker's Female Athlete of the Year. During the 2024 cross country season, she was the Pack's top performer in every race, including the ACC Championship, NCAA Southeast Regional and NCAA Championship meets. She was the top overall finisher in the first two events, posting times of 19:15 and 20:04.2, re- spectively. Hartman went on to place fifth at the national meet, finishing in 19:39.5 to lead NC State's eighth-place effort in the team standings. Following the cross country season, Hartman was honored by the ACC as Women's Cross Country Performer of the Year and Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, with the latter award given in recognition of her distance running ac- complishments and her 4.0 GPA. A native of Oakwood, Ohio, Hart- man continued to shine during the in- door track season, earning first-team All-America honors in both the 5,000- and 3,000-meter races. She placed sixth in the 5K at nationals, with her time of 15:11.10 setting a school record. The fol- lowing day, she was fifth in the 3K with a time of 9:03.37. When the outdoor season began, Hart- man showed she wasn't done breaking records. At the Raleigh Relays, she lopped a minute off the program's all-time best mark in the 10K race, finishing in 31:20.60, the third-best time in NCAA history. At the Duke Twilight meet, she posted a blazing 14:58.11 time in the 5K, an ACC record and the fourth-best time in NCAA history. Breaking 15 minutes in the 5K wasn't a goal Hartman had set for herself. It was, instead, one of those delightfully unexpected accomplishments, and it confirmed to her that she was continu- ing to trend in the right direction late in the year. Hartman's goal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June was to carry that liberating mindset into her final races of the college season. "I've been able to really learn a lot about my own mentality and motiva- tions in running," she said. "It's really been a beautiful season, and I've been able to learn just how much joy I get from the sport outside of results." She went on to earn two more first- team All-America trophies during her appearance at Oregon's Hayward Field. In the 10K race, she went out hard and led for much of the way before New Mex- ico's Pamela Kosgei surged ahead. Hart- man placed second behind Kosgei with a time of 31:32.15. In the 5K two days later, she placed fifth in 15:35.39. Asked after the 10K race about her performance, Hartman said she was "really just running with a lot of joy out there" and added that the result was a reflection of what she'd learned over the course of the year about the nature of competition. "I didn't go into those races with the mentality that I have to do this," she ex- plained. "It was more like, I have a really incredible opportunity, and I'm just lov- ing every step of it. The sport can be re- ally hard if you can't adopt the mentality of gratitude. That's carried me really far, and I'm excited to see what I can do in the sport carrying that forward." ■ FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 2024-25 YEAR IN REVIEW ATHLETES OF THE YEAR During the cross countr y season, Hartman finished first at the ACC Championships and NCAA Southeast Regional and was fifth at the NCAA Championships. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS A WOMAN FOR ALL SEASONS Distance Runner Grace Hartman Completes A Record-Setting Campaign