Ufodiama Secures Place in NCAA Indoor Championships

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Kelly Ufodiama has officially become East Carolina track & field's first woman runner to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in an individual event as she was accepted into the meet's 2025 edition, according to an announcement by the organization on Tuesday.

Ufodiama, a true freshman from Round Rock, Texas, qualified for the NCAA Championships in both the 60m and the 200m. Her times of 7.20 and 22.76 seconds are both program records and rank tied for ninth and 13th in the nation this season.

The 2025 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place on March 14-15 at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Va. It is the first time the Championships have ever been hosted in Virginia Beach.

The rookie got off to a remarkable start in her collegiate career as she broke the East Carolina program records in both events in her very first meet. With her time of 22.99 seconds at the Clemson Invite on Jan. 11, Ufodiama became the first Pirate ever to break the 23-second barrier. Meanwhile, in the 60m, she ducked under Melicia Mouzzon's previous program mark with a time of 7.26 seconds.

She would shatter both program records yet again, once more in Clemson at the Tiger Paw Invitational, running her still-standing season bests. Her 22.76-second effort in the 200m took her improvement over the previous program mark to 0.62 seconds, knocking over half a second off of the prior ECU benchmark.

Ufodiama would make a major splash again at the 2025 American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Feb. 28 and March 1, doing the double as 60m and 200m Conference Champion in her first ever attempt. She set meet record in both events as she finished the finals with times of 7.22 and 23.06 seconds.

In addition to those victories, Ufodiama scored points as a member of the Pirates' fourth-place 4x400m team, giving her 21.25 individual points for the meet and earning her Most Valuable Performer and Freshman of the Year recognition. She is the first woman in American Athletic Conference history to win both honors in the same meet, indoors or outdoors. It has been done once previously on the men's side indoors.

Her double title in the 60m and 200m was a first for an ECU athlete, and also made her the first Pirate woman to win two sprint events since Rasheca Barrow won the 100m and 200m outdoors in 2000 and the first sprinter, man or woman, to win two events in the same meet since LaShawn Merritt won the 200m and 400m in 2005. She is the first ECU athlete in any event to win two titles at the same meet since Ryan Davis won the hammer and the discus outdoors in 2021.

Udofiama is the first ECU women's runner ever to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in an individual event and is the first Pirate to qualify in any event since Raqurra Ishmar and Avion Jones qualified in the women's weight throw and the men's high jump, respectively, back in 2016. She is the first ECU runner to qualify since the women's 4x400m squad qualified for the 2012 meet.

The semifinal round of the women's 60m will take place on Friday, March 14 at 3:48 p.m., while the gun goes off for the 200m at 5:02 p.m. Should she advance, the finals will take place at 3:10 p.m. and 3:50 p.m., respectively, on March 15.

Tickets for the meet are on sale now and for those unable to attend, the meet will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks. Live results will be available on FlashResults.com.

Players Mentioned

Melicia Mouzzon

Kelly Ufodiama

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