Emily Venters Wins a Second National Title in Eight Days as Andrew Colley Repeats at Crazy 8s

Emily Venters and Andrew Colley won the USATF 8K Championships at the 36th Crazy 8s 8K in Kingsport, Tenn., on Saturday night, and each extended a streak in the process. Venters, the national 6K champion a week earlier in Canton, Ohio, ran 25:05 to take 35 seconds off the course record. Colley defended his 2025 title in 22:38 and became the first man to win the race in consecutive years since Shadrack Kosgei in 2010 and 2011.

The race, held at night during Kingsport’s Fun Fest festival with the finish inside J. Fred Johnson Stadium, carried a $36,600 prize purse paid equally across the men’s and women’s top 10, with $4,000 to each champion. Both winners said afterward that the humidity cost them time, according to reporting from the Johnson City Press and TriCitiesSports.com.

Date: Saturday, July 18, 2026
Venue: Kingsport, Tenn., finishing inside J. Fred Johnson Stadium

Venters Breaks the Course Record

Venters ran the first two miles in 9:40, faster than she intended, and spent the rest of the night working through the men’s field. “I latched myself onto the back of the guys and when I passed one, I was just trying to get to the next one,” she told TriCitiesSports.com.

Her 25:05 removed 35 seconds from the course record of 25:40 that Rachel Smith set in 2024, and only Asmae Leghzaoui has run faster in the event’s 36-year history, 24:27.8 on an earlier version of the course in 2002. Venters had hoped to run under 25 minutes. “On a good day I knew I was kind of running pretty fast, but it was really humid,” she told the Johnson City Press.

The win gave her two national titles in eight days. She claimed her first, the USATF 6K crown, in 18:08 in Canton, beating Elise Cranny, and she finished fourth at the New York Mini 10K in 31:16 last month. Allie Ostrander, fourth in Canton, took second in 25:42, the eighth-fastest time in race history per the Johnson City Press. Averi Lowen, a rising high school senior, was third in 27:11.

Colley Repeats After an Early Run at a 45-Year-Old Record

Colley ran his first two miles in 8:42 and passed halfway in 11:06, close to the pace of Alberto Salazar’s American 8K record, a 22:04 that has stood since 1981. No one in the field went with him, and the early effort slowed him late. He finished 34 seconds short of the record and 34 seconds clear of James Quattlebaum of Greenville, S.C., who took second in 23:12. Murphy Smith of Brighton, Mass., was third in 23:14.

“It’s kind of hard to go for it when you don’t have people to run with in the second half,” Colley told TriCitiesSports.com. “There were a few times where I took the foot off the gas a little bit where I should’ve kept pressing.”

The title was Colley’s second on American roads this year. He won the USATF 25K Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich., in May, running 1:13:59. The Raleigh, N.C., runner also kept the Crazy 8s title in the family: his wife, Tristin, won the women’s race in 2025. Asked about the prize money, he told the Johnson City Press: “I have got a 3 1/2 month old at home so some diaper money.”

Top 10 Results

Women

1. Emily Venters (Salt Lake City) 25:05, course record
2. Allie Ostrander (Louisville, Colo.) 25:42
3. Averi Lowen (Heflin, Ala.) 27:11
4. Mary van Laarhoven (Osseo, Minn.) 27:28
5. Gabriella Smith (Lynchburg, Va.) 27:33
6. Amanda Martin (Knoxville, Tenn.) 27:34
7. Mackenzie Caldwell (Boulder, Colo.) 27:39
8. Savannah Roark (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) 27:47
9. Lucy Ndungu (Wichita, Kan.) 28:04
10. Emily McCullough (Colby, Kan.) 28:35

Men

1. Andrew Colley (Raleigh, N.C.) 22:38
2. James Quattlebaum (Greenville, S.C.) 23:12
3. Murphy Smith (Brighton, Mass.) 23:14
4. Jack Aho (Charlotte, N.C.) 23:16
5. JP Flavin (Rochester, Minn.) 23:24
6. Aidan O’Gorman (Port Orange, Fla.) 23:45
7. Jack Mastandrea (Greenville, S.C.) 23:51
8. Emmanuel Bor (Colorado Springs, Colo.) 23:56
9. Simon Heys (Wilmington, Ohio) 24:03
10. Jason Weitzel (Greenville, S.C.) 24:18

Both champions also collected USATF Running Circuit points, and the overall champion of the 2026 or 2027 circuit earns a spot at the 2028 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Venters plans several 10Ks this fall before racing in Valencia in December, where she said she wants to get as close as she can to the American record in the half-marathon. Her longer aim is the 2028 Olympic team, in either the 10K or the marathon; she said she is still deciding between them.