@MIZ_TrackField’s Schweizer Named USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week
1/30/2018 9:48:00 AM | Track & Field
Schweizer ran the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history in the mile run at the Columbia Challenge
COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the third time this season, and the fourth time in her career, Mizzou Track & Field senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) has been named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I Women's National Athlete of the Week, announced Tuesday. Schweizer's remarkable performance in the mile run at the Columbia Challenge (Jan. 27) gave her the nation's top honor, as the Tiger senior smashed the school record en route to the fastest collegiate time this season.
In a race full of professional runners, Schweizer crossed the finish line third overall at 4:27.54, a full seven seconds ahead of Laura Roxberg's previous school record mark of 4:34.59, which was set in 2013. Schweizer's time is the fastest by a collegiate runner this season, the third-fastest in the world this season, and the fourth-fastest collegiate time ever recorded by an NCAA runner.
Schweizer also currently holds the world's fastest time this season in the 5000m run, after she clocked a time of 15:17.31 in a school-record performance at the BU Season Opener (Dec. 2, 2017). The performance came off the heels of an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships just two weeks prior (Nov. 18), and also netted Schweizer National Athlete of the Week honors. Schweizer's time in her BU Season Opener victory is the fifth-fastest indoor 5,000m run time in NCAA history, and is just five seconds behind the top mark of 15:12.22, set by Providence's Emily Sission in 2015.
Schweizer was also named the top athlete in the nation at the 2016 BU Season Opener (Dec. 6, 2016), where she first set the 5,000m run school record with a time of 15:37.40, clocking the time just two weeks after her 2016 NCAA Cross Country National Championship performance. Schweizer was also named the Women's National Athlete of the Week on Sept. 18, after she set the course record at Percy Warner Park in the Commodore Classic (Sept. 16), finishing the 5K race more than a full minute ahead of the runner up at 16:25.4.
During the track season, Schweizer looks to continue building her legacy as one of the top student-athletes in Mizzou Athletics history. Her impressive resume already includes six All-America honors, three national titles and five conference titles. The Urbandale, Iowa, native is the only female in Mizzou history to win multiple NCAA titles, while her six All-America honors rank tied for third in women's program history and tied for fifth overall. Her five conference titles are tied for the fourth-most in women's program history.
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