Nicole Blaesser Earns All-America Honors at NCAA Cross Country Championships

Women's Results
Men's Results

Nicole Blaesser raced to a seventh place to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Division II cross country championships on Saturday at Pensacola, Fla.

Blaesser (right) covered the 6K distance at the Escambia County Equestrian Center in a time of 20:33.7, overcoming a fall just 200 meters into the race.  Her finish is tied for the fifth best ever by an IUP woman at nationals.

The senior was running at nationals for the third time in her career and easily topped her previous best finish of 49th from a year ago. 

Earlier this month, Blaesser won the East Region title, was named the East Region Runner of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and is a four-time all-region performer.

Jorge Medina competed at the national meet for the first time in his career after joining Blaesser as an individual qualifier at the East Region meet.  Medina was 49th with a time of 30:44.9, just nine seconds shy of a spot on the All-America team. 

Blaesser was the second finisher from the PSAC, with Edinboro's Rachael Lenzel taking fourth.  The Fighting Scots were 10th in the team standings, four spots ahead of Kutztown.  Esther Komen of Western State won the individual title with a time of 20:09.4

Abilene Christian won the men's race, with Lock Haven finishing 11th and Edinboro taking 19th.  Naimadu Nicodemus of Abilene Christian was the individual champion with a time of 29:17.5.