2025 Virginia 10 Miler Draws Field of Elite Female Runners
Part of the Virginia 10 Miler’s rich history includes attracting top national and international runners. World champions, Olympians, NCAA champions and All-Americans have raced up and down Langhorne Road and Rivermont Avenue, crossing the finish line at EC Glass High School with a feeling of accomplishment and perhaps some anguish along the way.
The 2025 Women’s field looks to be a stellar group, headlined by Ethiopian Degefa Biruktayit Eshetu who earlier this month placed second in the USATF 20Km championships in 1:05:42, which converts to a 52:10 on a flat 10-mile course – could a course record be in jeopardy?Degefa is also a three-time champion of the Houston marathon (2016, 2018, 2019).
Challenging Degefa will be Bontu Rebitu, a native of Bahrain, who competed in the 2017 World Championships and was the Silver Medalist in the 2019 Asian Games, both in the 5,000 meters. Bontu has PRs of 15:02 in the 5K and 31:40 in the 10K.
Leading the way for the Americans, will be Katie Izzo (Flagstaff AZ) who was 10th in this year’s national championship (10K) and in 2019 led Arkansas to an NCAA Cross Country Championship by crossing the line third.
Returning from last year, Elizabeth Chikotas (Draper UT) hopes to improve on her 5th place (1st American) finish in which she crossed the line in 57:40. Elizabeth was an All American at Penn State (Cross Country). Earlier this year, she was second in the Broad Street (Philadelphia) 10 Mile in 54:43.
One of four Liberty University alums in the field, Calli Doan made her professional debut in the 10 Miler last year placing 6th overall (2nd American) in 58:06. Calli was a three time All-American (Cross Country and Steeplechase) and held five school records at the time of graduation.
Marybeth Chelanga (Fayetteville NC), wife of star runner Sam Chelanga, started her competitive running after graduating from LU. Now knowing the course, she should improve on her 2022 6th place finish (59:22). In 2024, Marybeth finished 23rd at the 2024 US Olympic Trials marathon in a time of 2:33:33.
The Minnesota Distance Elite team is sending us Breanna Sieracki an eight-time All-American and three-time NCAA champion runner-up at Minnesota-Duluth. Breanna has a 10-mile PR of 55:52 and a marathon PR of 2:33:26.
Other women in the field looking for a top 10 finish include:
Jasmine Donohue (Boone NC) – Appalachian State 5K record holder in 16:31
Page Hoftsad (Raleigh NC) – Georgetown/UNC alum with 10K PR 33:56
Adelyn Fairley (Lynchburg) – Liberty University All Conference Honors with 10K PR 33:36
Dr. Alyssa Vassallo – UNC rower turned distance runner, and a regular at the 10 Miler.
Noel Palmer - Liberty University All Conference Honors with 10K PR 33:57
Haley Slattery – Longwood Alum making her 10 Miler debut. 5K PR 18:40
In the Women’s Master’s (age 40 and up) field, Ashley Thomassey, looks to defend her title, winning in 2024 in 63:38. Ashley was an All-American at the University of Lynchburg in the Heptathlon.
