Knoche competes at NAIA Championships
Fresh off earning all-conference honors at the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Championships, Kaitlyn Knoche capped her freshman cross country season by competing at the NAIA Championships Friday.
Running at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course in Vancouver, Wash., Knoche finished the 6K in 24:48, placing 234th in the field featuring more than 330 runners.
It put a close to one of the top seasons in program history. Her PR of 23:15 set at the Blazing Tiger NAIA Classic on Oct. 21 was the top time ever recorded by a Bee freshman. The Donahue, Iowa, native also became just the seventh women's runner in school history to earn all-conference honors in the CCAC when she placed eighth at the conference championships in 23:39 on Nov. 4.
Knoche was the first women's runner at St. Ambrose to compete at Nationals since Michaela Pieroni, Megan Grady and Emma Duncan all competed in the 2020 Championships.
She will now turn her attention to the track & field season.