La Crosse, Wis. – Graduate student Alyssa Smith (Rochester/Brighton) of the Geneseo women's track & field team won the program's fifth NCAA individual title, winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a school-record time of 10:17.38 in Saturday's first event at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Smith, the second seed in the event, posted the second-fastest time in Thursday's preliminaries (10:38.47). She placed first in Saturday's final beating 12 other runners – including the defending national champion. Smith's winning time, 10:17.38, lowered her own school record by nearly 15 seconds.

Smith's performance vaulted the Knights into 10th place in the team standings.

The all-America honor is the third of her career; she placed fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2011 national championships and ran on Geneseo's third-place distance medley relay team at March's NCAA Indoor Championships.

Smith joins Beth Shope (1999 outdoor hammer throw), Kim DePrez (2003 indoor and outdoor high jump) and Melissa White (indoor 5,000-meter run) as Geneseo athletes who've won individual NCAA championships.