Amanda Goetschius turned in a 119th place finish at the National Meet in Terre Haute, In. |
|
|
Goetschius Turns In a Strong Finish at Nationals
Nov. 24, 2008
Complete Results
Terre Haute, In. - Racing in her first NCAA National Championship meet, sophomore Amanda Goetschius placed 119th out of 252 runners at the NCAA National Championships on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, In.
Goetschius crossed the line in a time of 21:20 on a cold afternoon in the Hoosier State. Her 21:20 time is a 12 second improvement over her time of 21:32 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on October 18, also held in Terre Haute.
The race wrapped up a tremendous sophomore campaign for the Garden State native, who was the Atlantic 10 individual champion and placed herself among the top female runners in 49er history.
“She really pushed through at the 3K mark after a tough start, we’re really proud of her for the way she fought through during the meet, especially considering it was her first race of this magnitude,” said Head Coach Brad Herbster on Goetschius’ performance.
Goetschius earned All-Region honors following an eighth place finish last weekend at the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships at Wake Forest. The sophomore now holds three of the top ten women’s 6K times in Charlotte history while her A-10 championship winning 5K time of 17:37 places her in a tie with Molly Kerin for ninth all-time.
By winning the A-10 title, Goetschius became only the second female runner to ever win individual conference gold and catapulted the Niner women a second place showing on the team side. Goetschius also won the Bojangles Invitational on the Charlotte Campus course in September.
“It was great, it was a great experience to be there with some of the nations best. I think I ran well after a not so great start and I just pushed through the race. I wasn’t used to having people around me so that took some getting used to, but I feel good about how I did,” said Goetschius following the race.
|
|
 |
Texas Tech’s Sally Kipyego was victorious in the women’s individual race, winning an unprecedented third straight women’s individual crown, while the Washington Huskies won the women’s team title.
In a hard fought battle, Oregon’s Galen Rupp defeated Southeast Region champion Samuel Chelanga from Liberty to earn his first NCAA individual crown while leading the historically powerful Oregon Cross Country team to team gold.
Goetschius will have a short turnaround before the start of the upcoming track season at Appalachian State on December 5 as she looks to continue what has already been a tremendous sophomore season by adding to a rapidly growing list of accomplishments.
