Top-Five Finish Gives Schweizer Third SEC Runner of the Week Honor
10/18/2016 1:30:00 PM | Cross Country
The Tiger junior becomes the program’s first three-time single-season recipient of the award
COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the third time this season, Mizzou Cross Country junior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) has been named Southeastern Conference Runner of the Week, announced by the league office on Tuesday. Schweizer receives the honor after finishing fourth in the women's 6000m race at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday. Schweizer's performance helped the Mizzou women finish 12th at the meet, a vast improvement from finishing 33rd at the 2015 Pre-National Invitational.
The Tiger junior becomes Mizzou's first three-time conference athlete of the week recipient in a single season, surpassing Amanda Bales, who won Big 12 conference honors twice in 2003. Schweizer now ranks tied for second in program history in conference athlete of the week honors, trailing Bales who won four from 2002-04. The last female SEC student-athlete to be awarded three times in one season was Arkansas' Dominque Scott, won captured the honor three times in 2014.
In three races this season, Schweizer has set and reset personal-records in each meet. She first claimed victory at the Commodore Classic on Sept. 17, finishing the 5000m race with a time of 16:46.7, 13 seconds faster than her previous best. Schweizer then re-set her 5000m PR at the Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 1, crossing the finish line first overall at 16:09.83. Finally, at the Pre-National Invite on Oct. 15, she posted a time of 20:14.0 in the 6000m race, nine seconds faster than her previous PR time of 20:23.10, set at the 2015 SEC Championships.
The distance specialist's tremendous junior season has only improved her already impressive resume, which includes being named the 2014 SEC Cross Country Freshman of the Year and earning All-America honors at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships after a third-place finish in the 5000m.
Mizzou will begin postseason competition at the SEC Championships on Friday, Oct. 28, in Fayetteville, Ark. The Tigers will then look to advance to the NCAA Regional meet in Iowa City, Iowa, on Nov. 11, and then back to Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 19, for the NCAA Championships.
For all the latest on Mizzou Cross Country and Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (MIZ_TrackField).
JUST IN: @KarissaSchweiz4 is the @SEC ROTW for the third time this season! (a program-record)
— Mizzou Track & Field (@MIZ_TrackField) October 18, 2016
[https://t.co/5XAqrdOX94]#MIZ #TigerTough ?? pic.twitter.com/BDjisfr9Nu
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