(Portions of this story courtesy of Colorado College and Trinity University athletics)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sparked by a pair of individual All-America performances, the Colorado College women's cross country team captured a 12th-place finish Saturday at the NCAA Division III Championship Meet at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. Complete Results
The Tigers equaled their best finish in program history at the national meet as they also finished 12th in 1998. CC also beat the two teams that placed higher than it at the West Regional meet last week as regional champion Whitworth finished 17th and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps was 15th.
Saturday's team performance by the CC women tied for the third-best finish ever (Trinity University finished 12th at the 2012 championship) for a SCAC women's cross country team at the national meet. The Trinity women finished sixth at the 2008 meet and the DePauw University women were seventh in 2007.
Seniors Leah Wessler and Katie Sandfort each achieved All-America status by placing 22nd and 26th, respectively. Both runners broke the school record for a 6K race as Wessler's time of 21:09.4 and Sandfort's 21:13.1 surpassed the previous record of 21:41 set by Erin Morrow in 2012.
They also became the first pair of CC runners to gain All-America status since Gretchen Grindle (22nd) and Andrea Godsman (24th) in 1997. Wessler's 22nd-place finish is CC's best at the national meet since Megan Klish was 18th in 1998.
"We got an incredible effort from both Leah and Katie today," head coach Ted Castaneda said. "I am very excited for both of them. They worked hard all season long for this achievement and it is a great way for them to close their careers in grand style."
Fellow seniors Allie Crimmins and Stefani Messick finished 138th and 154th in their first appearance at the national meet. Crimmins finished the race in 22:12.2 while Messick ran a 22:18.5. Sophomore Leah Veldhuisen closed out the scoring for CC by finishing 228th.
"We were hoping for a top 20 finish today, but our runners did a great job getting us points," said Castaneda, who was named the SCAC men's and women's Coach of the Year earlier this week.
Sophomore Allysa Warling and freshman Jerrica Bauer finished 244th and 247th, respectively.
Also competing at the national championship meet was Trinity sophomore Molly McCullough, who ran a personal-best time in the 6K and finished in 65th place.
"I"m really proud of Molly and all the work she's put in to get here," said Trinity Head Coach Emily Daum. "She ran a great race and got the full Nationals experience. I'm very excited to see how these next two years go for her."
