COLUMBIA, Mo. – For the second year in-a-row, Mizzou Track & Field senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) was placed on The Bowerman semifinalist list, announced Wednesday by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA). Schweizer is one of 10 semifinalists for the most prestigious award in collegiate track & field.
The Bowerman semifinalists list will be narrowed down to three finalists for track & field's highest honor, which will be awarded in San Antonio on December 20 at the USTFCCCA Convention.
Schweizer recently concluded her brilliant collegiate career at the NCAA Outdoor Championships (June 6-9), where she recorded two All-America finishes, including a first-place finish in the 5000m run which netted her sixth career NCAA title, the most of any student-athlete in Mizzou history. With the NCAA title, Schweizer is just the second woman in NCAA history to win back-to-back NCAA titles in the indoor and outdoor 5000m runs in the same two-year span, following Arizona's Amy Skieresz in 1997-98. Schweizer's 10 All-America honors match Kearsten Peoples for the most in program history.
Other notable finishes for Schweizer during the outdoor season included school record performances in the 10,000m run (32:00.55) and 1500m run (4:12.83) at the Stanford Invitational (March 30) and Tom Botts Invitational (April 20), respectively. Schweizer's time in the 10K currently ranks eighth on the all-time collegiate list, while her 1500m run performance was her sixth school record. Running in her home state, Schweizer was named the Most Outstanding Performer at the Drake Relays (April 26-28) following a meet record performance in the 5000m run (15:23.31) and a 4:32.19 mile split to net Mizzou the DMR title.
Schweizer became an eight-time conference champion at the SEC Outdoor Championships (May 13), as she won the 5000m run for the second-straight season with a time of 15:58.14. Schweizer's eight conference titles rank second in women's program history behind only Sabrina Dornhoefer's nine. She also finished runner-up in the 1500m run, as she crossed the finish line at 4:19.98. At the NCAA West Preliminary (May 24-26) clocked a time of 32:14.36 in the 10K, which is the fastest 10K time ran in West prelims history by nearly 70 seconds.
During the indoor season, Schweizer became the fifth female in NCAA history to win the 3000m run and 5000m national titles at the same meet. Schweizer clocked the third-fastest indoor 5000m run time in the history of the NCAA Indoor Meet, as she crossed the finish line at 15:43.23, while her time of 8:53.36 held off Boise State's Allie Ostrander in the 3000m run.
The two national titles cap a dominant 2018 indoor campaign in distance running for Schweizer, who set collegiate top-five times in the mile run, 3000m run and 5000m run in 2018. Schweizer set the collegiate record in the 3000m run at the Millrose Games (Feb. 3), winning USTFCCCA Division I Women's National Athlete of the Week and the Southeastern Conference Women's Runner of the Week honors in the process. Schweizer was the top collegiate finisher in the race, as she crossed the finish line fourth at 8:41.60. Schweizer's time surpassed the previous collegiate record from 2009 by Colorado's Jenny (Barringer) Simpson (8:42.03), as well as the Mizzou school record mark of 9:06.39, which was set by Sabrina Dornhoefer in 1984. She also clocked a time of 4:27.54 in the mile run at the Columbia Challenge (Jan. 27), the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history, and a 15:17.31 in the 5000m run at the BU Season Opener (Dec. 2, 2017), the fifth-fastest time in NCAA history.
At the 2018 SEC Indoor Championships, Schweizer captured her sixth and seventh conference titles in the 3000m run and distance medley relay. Schweizer set a conference meet record in the 3000m run, clocking a time of 9:00.56, while her 4:25.56 anchor leg split gave the Tigers the DMR title.
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