University of Missouri
NCAA Outdoor Championships - Finals
Schweizer Captures Third NCAA Title, Jacobs Earns All-America Honors at NCAA Championships
6/10/2017 10:25:00 PM | Track & Field
EUGENE, Ore. – Mizzou Track & Field junior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) captured her third career NCAA title on Saturday, winning the 5,000m run title at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The title was one of two podium finishes on the day for Mizzou, as redshirt sophomore Gabi Jacobs (Bloomington, Ill.) finished fifth in the discus to earn First-Team All-America honors.
Schweizer and Jacobs' performances vaulted the Mizzou women's team to a 17th place finish with 14 points, its highest finish at the NCAA Outdoor meet in program history. The 14 points scored is the second-most in program history, trailing only the 21 points scored by the 1984 team.
Schweizer claimed the NCAA title with a school record time of 15:38.93, besting her Stanford Invitational (March 31) performance of 15:39.75. Schweizer took the lead with six laps remaining and pulled away from the pack over the final 1,600 meters, winning by almost a full five seconds. The Tiger junior becomes the fourth female in NCAA history to win the distance triple crown (cross country, indoor 5000m and outdoor 5000m NCAA titles), and first since 2008. Schweizer is preceded by Villanova's Jennifer Rhines (1994-95), Arizona's Amy Skieresz (1996-97) and Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego (2007-08).
"I knew I just wanted to go out there and make it an honest race," said Schweizer. "I didn't want it to come down to the last bit, and it was a little nerve-wracking being out there in the front because I don't normally race like that. I just trusted my coach and trusted my fitness and went for it."
The 5000m run NCAA title is the second outdoor title in Mizzou women's program history after Sabrina Dornhoefer won the 1985 5K title. The win caps an incredible junior campaign for Schweizer, who won four conference titles and three national titles, along with three regional and two conference athlete of the year honors. During this outdoor season, Schweizer captured the 5,000m SEC crown with a time of 15:51.76 and posted the second-fastest 1,500m run time (4:15.77) in program history at the Crimson Tide Invite (April 8).
In the discus, Jacobs posted the highest discus finish in program history by finishing fifth with a mark of 56.27m (184-7). Previously, Kearsten Peoples finished sixth in the discus in 2012. The All-America finishes closes out a breakout campaign for Jacobs, who captured the SEC discus title on 56.58m (185-7.5) then set the discus school record at the NCAA West Preliminary with a toss of 58.23m (191-0).
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Track Results
5,000m Run – 1. Karissa Schweizer, 15:38.93 PR, SR
Field Results
Discus – 5. Gabi Jacobs, 56.27m (184-7)
Players Mentioned
