Mizzou track star Karissa Schweizer, after winning the national title for the indoor 5,000 meter run. (photo/Mizzou Athletics)
Mizzou Track and Field junior Karissa Schweizer captured her second NCAA National Championship of the 2016-17 athletic season this past Friday with a first place finish in the 5,000m run at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas.
The National title is her second of the year after she won the NCAA Cross Country National Championship in November, and the third NCAA All-American honor of her career after the cross country national title and a third place finish in the 5,000m run at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
“This feels unbelievable. It feels like a dream come true,” Schweizer told MUTigers.com. “My strategy throughout the race was to stay relaxed, because I knew the other girls in the race were going to make it an honest race. I was just going to hang in there and see what I can do since I haven’t ran a 5K in a while. With 400 meters to go, I knew I was going to make a move, whether I felt good or not.”
Schweizer joins an exclusive list of two-time NCAA Champions in Mizzou Athletics history, becoming just the fifth student-athlete and the first ever female student-athlete to accomplish the feat. She joins Mizzou Track & Field two-time National Champions Dick Cochran (1959 and 1960 Outdoor Discus) and Derrick Peterson (1999 Indoor and Outdoor 800m Run), as well as Mizzou Wrestling’s Ben Askren (2006 and 2007) and J’den Cox (2014 and 2016).