She was among the 22 fastest athletes in the country during the season in this sprint hurdles event to qualify for the nationals.

Walker ran in the second of three heats to determine who would run for the national title, but she didn’t have a finishing time, joining one other athlete who also didn’t get a time in.

Earlier in May, Walker had been named all-region in a pair of events for the outdoor season by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Those events were the 100 hurdles along with the long jump, joining junior teammate Teiolla Harvey in the javelin and freshman Alayna Vandegriff in the triple jump as all-region honorees.

Northern Michigan University’s Crystal Walker makes a leap in the long jump during an indoor meet this past winter season. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Walker, a native of Portmore, Jamaica, set an NMU record in the 100 hurdles when she clocked 13.68 seconds in the preliminaries of the GLIAC Championships at Grand Valley State from April 30-May 2.

This year’s NCAAs were her third time attending the national meet, following up appearances in the 2022-23 indoor season and the 2024 outdoor campaign.

She was 13th in the long jump in ’23 and 14th in the 100 hurdles in ’24, missing top-12 All-American status by just a few places.

This year’s school record would’ve slotted Walker into 14th place in the prelims, though less two-tenths of a second out of a top-12 spot.

And in the finals of the 100 hurdles held a day later on May 24, that 13.68 Northern-record time could’ve earned her ninth place, and again would’ve been less than two-tenths of a second out of sixth.

Though Walker is listed as a senior, she plans to be back for one final indoor season for the Wildcats in the 2025-26 campaign.

Minnesota State-Mankato took three of the top five places in the 100 hurdles, scoring 20 points for nearly two-thirds of its sixth-place team total of 32 points. The Mavericks’ Grace Johnson won the finals in 13.04 seconds, teammate Adeyah Brewster was third in 13.28 and Mankato’s Ashanti Harvey fifth in 13.37.

For the whole meet, Grand Valley won the team title by a single point, 60-59, over Adams State (Colorado), with Pittsburg State (Kansas) third with 54.5.

Five former GLIAC members scored points — Findlay was 15th with 17, Ashland 16th with 16, Hillsdale tied for 33rd with 7, Tiffin 55th with 2.5 and Northwood tied for 56th with 2.

Current league member Davenport had 1 point.