Nov. 22, 2014
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Freshman Karissa Schweizer closed out her stellar debut season at the NCAA Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., on Saturday (November 22). She placed 155th in the premier field, navigating the 6000-meter course on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in 21:36.30.
"We're really proud of her," Head Coach Marc Burns, currently in his first year with the Tigers, said. "She got out exactly the way we talked about, gave herself a chance to run up in the front third of the race early. The hope was to see how she felt and, if she felt good and started getting into it, she could race her way into the top 40 or 50. She just kind of got caught up in a wave of people that overwhelmed her."
Schweizer closes out an exciting freshman season that culminated not only in an NCAA Championship qualification, but an All-Midwest Regional finish and the SEC Freshman of the Year award. Finishing in the top three for the Tigers in all seven of her meets this season, Schweizer also stepped up to lead the women at the Greater Louisville Classic in October (11th overall) and the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship a week ago (seventh overall).
"This was a great learning experience for her, it's going to make her a better runner down the road. Now we've had two of our women [Schweizer and sophomore Kaitlyn Fischer] run at this meet, and hopefully the goal is to bring the whole team here next year and have them lead the rest of the crew," Burns said. "We're really excited about her freshman year, her future looks great, and we can't wait to take a break here then get started for track."
The Tigers are set to kick off their indoor track season on January 10th, 2015, with the Iowa Triangular in Iowa City, Ia. For the latest on your Tigers, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MIZ_TrackField.