Nov. 19, 2016
Event: NCAA Cross Country Nationals
Date: Saturday, Nov. 19
Site: LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Ind.
Host: Indiana State
Online Results: HERE
PDF Results: NCAA Women’s Results 
Championship Central: HERE
Meet History and Records: HERE
Adding one final highlight to her memorable season, Vanderbilt sophomore standout Sara Tsai finished 57th on Saturday at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., posting a time of 20:34.40.
Tsai’s performance represented the fourth-best time at the national meet in Vanderbilt team history.
Tsai, who earned All-SEC honors this season, finished just 10 seconds off the pace of earning All-American honors.
“It is certainly safe to say that Sara has just continued to get better in each race — and that pattern continued today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Steve Keith about the standout from Eugene, Oregon. “She is getting more and more confident in her fitness, and just more and more confident overall.”
Tsai and the other runners were greeted by chilly weather on Saturday morning, but Tsai didn’t let the elements disrupt her focus.
“We knew it was going to be really cold, and it was,” said Keith. “But Sara said after the race that she was able to block it out. She said it didn’t effect her one way or the other.”
Oregon won the team championship, followed by Michigan and Colorado. Missouri’s Karissa Schweizer won the indiviual title with a time of 19:41.60.
Tsai, who earned her spot at nationals with an at-large bid, was making her second conseuctive trip to nationals. She finished 167th last season after she and her Commodore teammates earned an automatic bid by winning the NCAA South Regional.
Saturday’s race marked the seventh consecutive season that Vanderbilt has had representation at the NCAA Champinships.
As she has done many times this season, Tsai did her best work at the end, surging to the finish line with a strong kick.
“She kept passing other runners to the very end,” said Keith, “and that is the sign of a confident runner. Going into the race, we felt like Top-60 was a realistic goal, and we are so proud of Sara for going out there and making it happen.
“We know she has plenty of great races out ahead of her,” said Keith.
