Schweizer Named SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year, Three Gather All-SEC Honors
5/29/2018 2:02:00 PM | Track & Field
Schweizer will finish collegiate career by running in 5K & 10K at NCAA Outdoor Championships
COLUMBIA, Mo. – After her eighth career conference title and qualifications in two events at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Mizzou senior Karissa Schweizer (Urbandale, Iowa) was named the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Runner of the Year, announced by the league Tuesday. Schweizer will conclude her magnificent collegiate career June 6-9 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she will look to win her sixth and seventh NCAA titles, as she will run in the 5000m run and 10,000m run.
This is Schweizer's fifth SEC Runner of the Year honor, after she previously won the 2016 Cross Country, 2017 Indoor, 2017 Cross Country and 2018 Indoor Runner of the Year nods. In addition, redshirt senior Megan Cunningham (Eureka, Mo.) and redshirt junior Gabi Jacobs (Bloomington, Ill.) earned All-SEC First Team honors after capturing conference titles in the 10,000m run and discus, respectively.
?? @SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year ??#Mizzou's @KarissaSchweiz4 ?????#MIZ #TigerTough ?? pic.twitter.com/APzWqmxpZY
— Mizzou Track & Field (@MIZ_TrackField) May 29, 2018
Schweizer, a five-time NCAA Champion has had a remarkable 2018 outdoor season that has seen her become a mainstay on the 2018 The Bowerman Watch List. Schweizer began her outdoor season by making her collegiate debut in the 10,000m run at the Stanford Invitational (March 30), where she set the school record with an NCAA-leading time of 32:00.55. The Tiger senior then set her sixth school record at the Tom Botts Invitational (April 20), where she edged professional runner Megan Mansy in the 1500m run with a time of 4:12.83.
Schweizer then transitioned to the blue oval at the Drake Relays (April 26-28), where she was named the Most Outstanding Performer and SEC Runner of the Week for her performance. She started off by setting the Drake Relays 5000m run meet record at 15:23.31, breaking a record that was previously set in 1985. Schweizer then followed up her 5K performance on the track by anchoring the Mizzou distance medley relay team which took home the white flag Saturday with a time of 11:07.59. Schweizer ran a 4:32.19 mile split and elevated the Tigers from fourth to first for the victory.
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.
Most recently, Schweizer provided a historic performance at the NCAA West Preliminary (May 24-26) as she qualified for the NCAA Finals in the 5K and 10K. Schweizer began by clocking a 32:14.36 in the 10K, which is the fastest 10K time ran in West prelims history by nearly 70 seconds. Schweizer then followed that performance up by running the nation's fastest 5K time, 15:19.65, to return to the 5K final where she captured a national championship a season ago. In Eugene, Schweizer will run in two events for the first time in her career.
??? All-@SEC First Team ??
— Mizzou Track & Field (@MIZ_TrackField) May 29, 2018
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?? @MCunningham13
?? @KarissaSchweiz4 #MIZ #TigerTough ?? pic.twitter.com/7jwOWUzeSg
After nearly being paralyzed following a horrific car crash in July 2015, Cunningham returned to the track full-time in 2018 and exceeded expectations tenfold, as she captured conference titles in the SEC Indoor 5000m Run and Outdoor 10,000m run. Cunningham clocked two program top-10 marks during the outdoor season, first in the 5000m run as she won the Gorilla Classic (April 14) with a time of 16:03.20, then at the Drake Relays (April 26) Cunningham won the 10,000m run with a time of 33:19.25. Both times rank fourth on Mizzou's top-10 list. At the SEC Outdoor meet, Cunningham won the 10K SEC title with a time of 33:47.05, as she finished more than a minute ahead of the runner up.
Jacobs won her second conference title at the SEC Outdoor Championships as well, as she repeated as SEC discus champion (May 13) with a throw of 55.92m (183-5). The throw was Jacobs' third-best of the year, following a mark of 58.11m (190-8) which set a meet record at the Tom Botts Invitational (April 21) and a throw of 57.28m (187-11) at the NCAA West Preliminary (May 25). Jacobs also scored in the shot put at the SEC Outdoor Championships, as she placed seventh with a mark of 15.75m (51-8.25). Jacobs will compete in the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, where she collected a fifth-place finish and All-America honors in 2017.
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