Sydney Vaught, Katie Izzo finish 1-2 in 10,000m at USATF Champs
NEW YORK CITY – Arkansas alums Sydney Vaught (33:30.60) and Katie Izzo (33:36.98) finished first and second in the 10,000m at the USATF Outdoor Championships on Thursday evening at Icahn Stadium.
Vaught is the first Arkansas alum to win the USATF 10,000m since Amy Begley in 2009 and 2010 while Deena Kastor claimed USATF 10k titles in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2007.
After a slow first 5,000m (18:09.44) Vaught and Izzo charged away from the field in covering the second 5k in 15:21.16 and 15:27.16, respectively.
“My coach and I talked about just relaxing that first half, kind of seeing what everyone else was doing, and obviously, we were jogging out there,” noted Vaught. “I felt like we’re going to race 5K now. I definitely thought we were running a bit faster. I was kind of surprised when we were running slow, but honestly, I’m doubling back in 5K, I’ll take this relaxing pace as long as possible.”
Over the final two laps of the race Vaught separated from Izzo with splits of 1:11.53 and 1:09.03. Izzo maintained second place with splits of 1:13.67 and 1:13.04 over Allie Buchalski (33:42.29).
“I think I approached the race knowing that it could be anyone’s day, but also I’ve been feeling really confident where I’m at this season,” said Vaught. “Even in the last few weeks, just more experience training at a higher level. I went into this race wanting to win.”
This is the first USATF title for Vaught in her initial pro season. She completed her Razorback career with a pair of All-America performances in cross country and the indoor season.
Vaught placed 13th at the 2025 NCAA Cross Country Championships over 6,000m and finished eighth in the 5,000m at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championships after winning the SEC Indoor 5,000m title in a career best 15:02.52.
Earlier this month Vaught placed ninth at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta and was the top American with a time of 32:18 over a 10k distance.
As a Razorback Izzo finished fourth in the 2021 NCAA 10,000m and placed third in the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships when Arkansas claimed the team title.
“I wasn’t really sure how I would go, because of the New York weather,” stated Izzo. “But you want to be ready for maybe something a little faster. Once Sydney started to go, I’m like, okay, this is the real race. It dropped about 20 seconds. That obviously was a lot quicker, but I felt like I was able to cover it.
“I’m happy with placing second. It was my first track outdoor race in a year. I haven’t had the best outdoor track races and, I just wanted to change that today. It was about healing my relationship with the outdoor track. So, you know, of course I wanted to win, but my goal was podium and, you know, track is difficult at this level. So, I was happy.”
Nikki Hiltz won the second heat of the women’s 1,500m prelim in a time of 4:04.54, which ranked fourth best overall. Addy Wiley led the field with a 4:04.17 from the first heat.
“Even though I’m from California, I do have a lot of family out here, so it kind of feels like my second home,” noted Hiltz. “My mom grew up on Long Island, so I brought her family out here. My grandma’s actually coming to the meet on Saturday. I don’t think she’s watched me race in years.”
Arkansas sprinters advancing from the first round of the 100m were Lance Lang (10.26) and Tevijon Williams (10.38) in the men’s race along with Jada Mowatt (11.22w) in the women’s race.
Through the first day of the decathlon Marcus Weaver is in ninth place with 3,896 points.
