LOUISVILLE – An All-American performance had Karis Jochen placing 36th in the NCAA Championships on Saturday amid an overcast day with temperatures in the low 50s on the E.P. Tom Sawyer course. Jochen recorded a time of 20 minutes, 23.9 seconds over the 6,000-meter course.
“I’m very excited to earn All-America honors and I’m very excited to even be here,” stated Jochen. “I think this whole season has been a good learning experience. I’m not satisfied with a 36th place finish, I know I’m capable of finishing higher than 36th. This is the end of the cross country season and I couldn’t have asked for a better step in the right direction.”
Jochen overcame a delay at the start of the race and put herself back in a good position by the first mile. At the 2,000 meter mark she was in 30th place with a 6:41.8 split. Through the last half of the race Jochen maintained her form with a determination to remain among the top 40 in the field of 254 runners.
“It’s always tough the first time you’re at an NCAA meet,” said Texas A&M assistant coach Wendel McRaven. “It can easily be overwhelming. My words of wisdom to her were don’t let the race be bigger than what it really is. It’s just another race. Lots of people make the race out to be bigger than it really is and it overwhelms them.
“She didn’t do that, she ran cool and calm. Personally she’s not ecstatic about the result, but to earn All-American honors the first time here is really a nice way to do it. Now she sets herself up for next year and knows what it’s all about. I hope she can learn something from it, can do even better a year from now and put herself in the hunt to be top 10 or 15 or better.”
Jochen noted: “I had a pretty awful start, actually, I think I started half a second after everyone. So in the first 800m I was in the back of the pack. I just told myself to stay calm because there was nothing I could do about it at that point. By the mile mark I was where I needed to be.”
Jochen earned the sixth All-American honor by an Aggie female, joining a pair teammates from last season – Grace Fletcher and Hillary Montgomery – as well as Melissa Gulli (2000 & 2002) and Andrea Bookout (2000).
The time of 20:23.9 by Jochen is the fastest ever by a Texas A&M runner in the national championship race, topping the 20:29.8 recorded by Gulli in 2002.
“It’s going to feel good to be recognized as an All-American when I compete,” said Jochen. “My thoughts, though, when somebody says that will be it’s about time. I should have been an All-American for a while now.”
For the first time in preparing for a race this season Jochen wrote fearless on her wrist. It served as a reminder of how Coach McRaven described her in recanting a story to a reporter when he was recruiting Jochen.
“Coach McRaven was talking about recruiting me a couple of days ago and describing some of the qualities in racing that he saw in me as a senior in high school,” said Jochen. “It helped remind me the kind of racer I am and strive to be. I want to be a fearless racer, catch me if you can and I’m going to die trying to be the best I can be.”
In placing 36th, Jochen was the fourth finisher from the SEC and the first runner to cross the finish line from a Texas school.
Arkansas’ Dominique Scott finished third in 19:40.9, Chelsea Blaase of Tennessee placed 14th with a 20:07.2, and Vanderbilt’s Caroline Pietrzyk finished 32nd in 20:21.2. Notre Dame senior Molly Seidel won the women’s individual title in 19:28.6 over Boise State frosh Allie Ostrander (19:33.6).
Completing the championship race from the SEC behind Jochen were Marta Freitas of Mississippi State (37th – 20:26.7), Devin Clark of Arkansas (48th – 20:31.7), and Rhianwedd Price of Mississippi State (50th – 20:31.7).
The next runners from a Texas school to finish behind Jochen were Cali Roper of Rice (56th – 20:33.8) and Baylor’s Maggie Montoya (88th – 20:45.9).
In team scoring New Mexico won the women’s title with 49 points over Colorado (129) and Oregon (214). Placing among the top 10 were Providence (231), North Carolina State (264), Michigan (264), Oklahoma State (274), Notre Dame (276), Arkansas (276), and Washington (297). The other pair of teams from the SEC had Mississippi State in 17th (405) with Vanderbilt 19th (474).
Syracuse claimed the men’s team title with 92 points ahead of Colorado’s 91 with Stanford third at 151. Teams among the top 10 were Oregon (183), Iona (244), Arkansas (244), Louisville (331), Washington (345), Michigan (348) and Georgetown (352).
Oregon’s Edward Cheserek won the individual men’s title in 28:45.8 over the 10,000-meter course with Villanova’s Patrick Tiernan runner-up in 29:11.1 while Pierce Murphy of Colorado third at 29:37.0.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics