JOPLIN, Mo. – Junior Sophia Strange capped an outstanding season with an All-America finish at the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship on a Saturday morning in Joplin, Mo.
Strange completed the 6k route at the Tom Rutledge Course in a personal-best time of 20:37.0 for a 32nd overall finish of 260 runners.
It is the fastest time at the national event and the second-best finish, trailing Abby Hoover's 31st placing in 2017, in Oklahoma Baptist cross country history.
Strange opened the race at 29th through the first 1,000 meters and dropped a few spots before gaining ground in the last legs of the event. She notched a personal-best time of 17:19.4 at the 5k mark before leaping seven participants for her race-best split of 3:17.17 to finish things off.
Saturday's final puts a lid on Strange's historical season that featured two victories at the Great American Conference Championships and the Rogers State Distance After Dark. Strange was the lone Bison competing in today's race and the first since Emma Downing ran at the 2021 National Championship.
Strange joins Hoover and Sydney Lawrence (40th, 2017) as the only Bison to claim cross country All-America nods in OBU's Division II era.
