BOSTON — It was a moment to remember at one of the biggest road races in all of the world for a graduate of the University of Illinois who has honed her craft in the state.

As it turns out, the ninth time was the charm with Susannah Scaroni at the Boston Marathon.

The wheelchair athlete captured her first victory in the 127th edition of the iconic race on Monday as she bested the rest of the field in the women’s division with room to spare. Scaroni crossed the finish line with a time of 1:41:45, besting Australia’s Madison de Rozario by over five minutes.

It’s the first time that she captured the win in her ninth Boston Marathon, having finished second in 2018 and third in 2014, 2015, and 2017.

Scaroni continues what has been a great run in marathon races over the past six months as she came home with the victory at the Chicago Marathon in October 2022 and the New York Marathon in November 2022.

Earlier in her career, she also captured back-to-back women’s wheelchair wins at the Los Angeles Marathon in 2013 & 2014.

In June 2022, Scaroni also won the inaugural Chicago 13.1 half marathon that was staged on the west side of the city.

A graduate of Illinois’ College of ACES with a bachelor’s degree in 2014 and a master’s degree in 2022, Scaroni also won gold at the 2020 Paralympic Games in the 5,000m race and bronze in the 800m race in Tokyo.

Larry Hawley featured Scaroni in this week’s “Random Hawlight” on WGN News Now, which you can see in the video above.