Nov. 23, 2009

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Mizzou cross country freshman Kaitie Vanatta (Littleton, Colo.) wrapped up her incredible freshman season by placing 54th out of the 254-athlete field at the NCAA Championships on Monday (Nov. 23) in Terre Haute, Ind., placing her in the top fifth of the nation's best collegiate runners. Vanatta is the Tigers women's top finisher at the NCAA National Championships since 2004 when Serena Ramsey placed 43rd overall at the event. On another note, she was the fifth freshman to cross the finish line at the race, showing a bright future for the first-year Tiger.

"Kaitie had a great day; she was the fifth freshman to finish the race," women's head coach Rebecca Wilmes said. "Coming into the national meet, it is such a different experience. Nothing you do can really fully prepare you for it, so that is what makes it even more exciting because Kaitie is just a freshman. At one point it looked like she was in about 100th place, but she made up a lot of ground from there. She stayed composed and stuck to her race strategy. It was just a really great day for her."

"Overall, it was everything that I had expected," Vanatta said following the race. "It was a very exciting experience for me to be here as a freshman. I had a lot support from my family back home, my friends and my coaches all week leading up to this. It was a really great weekend for me."

Vanatta started the race at a very conservative pace through the first part of the race as she looked to keep herself ready for the last leg of the 6K trek. From there, Vanatta made up plenty of ground and found herself running with some of the nation's elite runners in the final 2,000m of the race. Vanatta stayed at a consistent quick pace from that point and finished the race in 20:57.40, the best time for a Mizzou women's runner since 2003 when Amanda Bales clocked a time of 20:31.20 on the same course.

"Not having come here before, we stuck to our race strategy that we had all season," Vanatta said about her late push through the field. "Coach told me to go out strong and be in a position to make a move heading into the final 2K, and that is what I did. As soon as I found myself in that position, I made my move."

Vanatta was the seventh Big 12 student-athlete to finish the race as well and was the ninth at-large finisher. Vanatta's freshman season will likely go down as one of the finest in Mizzou women's cross country history. She earned All-Big 12 honors and All-Midwest Regional honors to go along with her 54th-place finish at the NCAA National Championships.

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