Sadie Klug runs at the beginning of the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Championships at Principia College. (photo courtesy of Heather Fairbanks, Principia Athletics Communications)
ELSAH, Ill. – Gustavus senior cross country runner Sadie Klug (Waseca, Minn.) competed at the NCAA Championships Saturday, hosted by Principia College, and took 64th place (out of 279 runners) with a career-best time of 21:57.8. Klug’s time is the ninth best 6K finish in program history as the top eight times are all owned by Hailey Harren ’07, who won the NCAA individual championship in 2005 with a time of 21:52.9. Women’s cross country began running 6,000 meters as the standard distance in 2002.
“What a way to end the season and a career,” Head Coach Brenden Huber said of Klug’s performance. “She focused in staying relaxed and got herself in a great position early. She was able to avoid a lot of traffic that could have kept her in the back of the pack and was able to run her race the whole way through.”
After finishing 15th in the Central Region meet, Klug was able to surpass eight runners from the Central Region in today’s national meet, taking seventh among runners from the region.
“She was in the mix for All-American (top 35) half way through, but it just didn’t end up that way,” Huber said. “Her performance today was something special and will certainly be a life-long memory.”
Khia Kurtenback of Chicago won the race in 20:39.2. Johns Hopkins won the team title with its top five earning All-America accolades.