ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Freshman Erin Peppler became the second Culver-Stockton College female track athlete and the third female athlete overall to earn All-America honors at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships since the program was re-started in 2007.

Peppler, a true freshman from Greenville, Ill., (Bond Community HS), joined Paige Bray (200m dash in 2017) and Delaney Straus (heptathlon in 2024 & 2025) as All-Americans after she placed seventh in the 5000-meter race walk at the 2026 championships being held in Asheville, N.C., Thursday night. The top eight finishers are recognized as All-Americans.

After enduring several delays due to weather, Peppler turned in a career-best time of 27:41.37 to set a new school record. The previous school record was 27:56.22 by Allison Morris set in 2024 at the Cornell (Iowa) Invitational. Peppler qualified for the national meet with a provisional qualifying time of 28:43.19 at the Central Methodist (Mo.) Invitational back in April.