SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior Sam Ahern will have one more race during his final collegiate indoor season, as the sprinter has been selected to compete in the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships, the NCAA announced on Sunday evening.
 
Ahern will be one of 20 student-athletes to take part in the 200-meter dash, making him the first Union men's runner to reach the national championships since David Bates '21 qualified for the 800 meters in 2019-20. He is Union's first sprinter to make nationals since Union Athletics Hall of Famer Sean Washington '04 qualified in the 55-meter dash for the third straight year in 2004-05, and the 13th men's indoor track athlete (and 43rd track athlete overall) in program history to reach the NCAAs.

"We are so excited that Sam has this opportunity at the NCAA Championships," said head coach Laura Nardelli. "After breaking so many of Union's records and being a top threat in the Liberty League all four years at Union, he deserves to have his ticket punched to the big dance. We look forward to seeing him compete on the national stage next weekend!"

Ahern qualified for the meet with a time of 21.93 seconds at the D-III Elite Meet on February 14. His fastest time of the season actually came at the John Thomas Terrier Classic, when he blazed to a program-record time of 21.89 seconds on the banked track at Boston University, which converts to 22.28 seconds on a flat track. His time at BU marked the third time that Ahern has reset the school indoor 200 record, doing so once in each of the last three years.
 
Ahern finished the year with the 22nd fastest 200 time in Division III this season and is seeded 19th out of 20 runners. Sam Blaskowski of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse has the top time in the nation with a 21.34 run in January. Ahern's time is tops among all Liberty League runners and ranks him second in the Mideast Region this season.

The 2025 NCAA Division III indoor track and field championships run from Friday, March 14 through Saturday, March 15 at Nazareth University's Golisano Training Center in Rochester, N.Y. Ahern, who ran his qualifying time on the same track last month, is set to compete in the 200 prelims on Friday at 4:15 p.m.