QUERETARO, Mexico - Nia Akins, a two-time NCAA runner-up and rising senior for the University of Pennsylvania women's track and field program, tallied another impressive performance to add to her collection in 2019, this time on the world stage, running a time of 2:07.11 in the 800 at the NACAC U23 Championship in Queretaro, Mexico to place second. Akins was runner-up to UNLV's Avi'Tal Wilson-Perteete, who finished third at last month's NCAA Championship.

Akins' time was good to finish ahead of runners from Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica, helping the United States to a clean 1-2 sweep in the event. 

Currently sitting atop the Penn record books in event different events, combining indoor and outdoor, Akins recently completed arguably the most impressive spring semester of any women's track and field athlete in program history, finishing as a national runner-up in the 800 at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships. Indoors, Akins won individual Ivy Heps championships in both the 1,000 and 4x880 before setting a then personal record time of 2:03.74 in the national final of the 800, missing out on first place by just .05 seconds. Outdoors, Akins captured a bevy of individual accolades, including both Penn Relays Female Relay Athlete of the Meet and Ivy League Track Athlete of the Meet, following her role in Penn's first ever Championship of America wheel in the DMR at the Penn Relays, and two individual Heps championships in the 800 and 4x800. Akins soared into the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas after tallying the top time at the NCAA East Region Preliminary in the 800, and ran a time of 2:02.88 to advance to the championship race. There, Akins proved herself on the national stage yet again, besting her personal best again with a time of 2:01.67 to finish second.