Two athletes from the Northeastern track and field team were disqualified from the women’s 5000-meter for illegal shoes at the CAA Indoor Track Championships in Virginia Beach, Va. Feb. 26.
The runners, graduate student Azza Borovicka-Swanson and senior Vivian McMahon, were reportedly both wearing Nike’s Streakfly racing shoes. Streakfly shoes feature 26-32 millimeter stack heights, which refers to the amount of material between an individual’s feet and the ground. The Streakfly’s stack height exceeds the NCAA’s 25-milliliter limit — a newly enforced maximum for the 2024-2025 season.
Northeastern’s Athletic department declined to comment.
This limit aligned the NCAA with the World Athletics regulations and allows athletes to qualify for competitions such as the Olympics at college races.
Though their times are not publicly listed, Canadian Running Magazine reported that the athletes placed fifth and 13th in the event, and that one ran a 24-second personal best of 16:27 before being notified of the disqualification. The shoes were not recognized as illegal until after the race, and the athletes were subsequently disqualified.
Disqualifications at CAA Championships are uncommon, but not unheard of. There were five other disqualifications at the 2025 CAA Championships the same weekend, including one for Northeastern graduate student Ava Duggan in the mile. The additional disqualifications were for false starts and other violations during the race, but no further instances related to illegal shoes.
Disqualifications over shoes are increasingly common as companies look to make the fastest racing shoe. Professional runner Rajpaul Pannu wore a training shoe that was too tall at the USATF 100 Mile Road Championships in 2025. In 2021, the Vienna Marathon winner, Derara Hurisa, was disqualified after wearing shoes just one centimeter over the maximum.
Northeastern put on a strong overall performance at the conference championships, coming third as a team for both the women’s and men’s sides.
The shoe disqualification raised questions online about whether the athletes or the coaches and officials were responsible for the late identification.
