The 2016 10k Road Race National Championships took place on a cool, breezy morning in Richmond, VA, as part of the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10k presented by Martin's. More than 2,600 college students converged to run in one of the largest 10k road races in the country, with nearly 30,000 total participants competing.

Silas Frantz of the University of Virginia and Nicol Traynor of Hudson County Community College were the top men's and women's finishers, each earning $2,000 for their effort. In total, $10,000 in prize money was awarded to the top ten men's and women's collegiate finishers.

Facing a stiff headwind for the first half of the race, the men's field took a very conservative approach running as a large pack with no clear front-runner. At the 5k mark, 8 men were within one second of each other as they crossed at 15:59. Nearly immediately after the turn-around, the pace quickened and Silas Frantz and Ryan Hagen (Mary Baldwin College) started to pull away. With 1.5 miles to go, Frantz was able to find yet another gear and pull away for an :18 victory. Frantz ended up running the second half of the race in a very quick 14:46, a full 1:13 faster than his first half. Hagen was able to finish strong in second place in 31:04, followed by Connor Sheryak (Georgetown), Matt Mckenna (Richmond and Johnny Hogue (Richmond).

Nicol Traynor established herself as the clear favorite early on in the women's race, as she reached the midway point :16 in front of her nearest competitor, crossing in 17:15. A 2016 Olympic Trials qualifier in the 3k Steeplechase and professional runner for the NJ-NY Track Club, Traynor ran her 2nd 5k in 16:45 to easily pull away for the victory in 34:01, nearly :45 clear of the second place finisher. While the winner never seemed to be in question, the women's race saw a very deep and competitive field battle for the 2nd - 6th place spots. Ultimately the top-six women all ran under 35:40, considerably faster than the previous two editions of the race. Bethany Sachtleben (Northern VA CC), Abby Motley (Virginia Tech), Autumn Eastman (Georgetown), Tara Richardson (Wake Forest) and Kate Harrison (VCU) ended up claiming 2nd - 6th after a hard fought battle.

To see full collegiate and open award winners and race results, see the links below.