Results
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Slippery Rock University's
Jen Harpp closed her collegiate cross country career by earning All-America honors with a 15th-place finish at the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships Saturday afternoon at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park.
The top-40 finishers at the national meet are named All-Americans by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Harpp's 15th-place finish earns her a second consecutive All-America honor in cross country and the fifth All-America honor of her career.
Harpp, a graduate student from Highland Heights, Ohio, covered the 6,000-meter course in 21:45.9. Her 15th-place showing is the second best performance in SRU women's cross country history, trailing only her 11th-place effort from last season.
“I can't say enough about how proud I am of the way Jen ran today,” said head coach
John Papa. “To only race three times all year, and have her third race of the year be the national meet, I'm very pleased with her performance today.”
Harpp battled a nagging hamstring injury that kept her from competing at all during the indoor track and field season last year and held her out of nearly all the cross country races this fall. She made her season debut at the PSAC Championships, where she placed fourth, before running at the Atlantic Region Championships, where she finished third and earned the trip to nationals.
She closes her career as one of the most decorated cross country runners in SRU history, earning back-to-back All-America honors with top-15 finishes. She also has two All-America honors in outdoor track and field and one from the indoor season.
Harpp is not finished at SRU yet, as she has one final season of indoor eligibility. The Rock indoor track and field team will open its season next weekend at Kent State.
Harpp was joined by a strong contingent of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference runners at the national meet, led by Neely Spence, who claimed her second consecutive individual title. Millersville's Elicia Anderson was the second PSAC finisher, placing just ahead of Harpp in 14th at 21:43.5. Shippensburg placed fourth in the final team standings.
