honors with her 13th place finish.
Complete All-America Honors List
BEREA, OHIO - Baldwin Wallace University senior Kim Chinn (Zanesville/ West Muskingum) placed a school all-time-best 13th of 279 total runners at today's (Saturday, November 20, 2010) NCAA Division III National Championship Meet, hosted by Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, to earn Division III All-American status. It marks the second NCAA appearance for Chinn in cross country.
Chinn, a mass communicatons major, covered the 6K course in a school-record time of 21:31 overall. She is the first Yellow Jacket woman to earn a Division III All-American honor in cross country.
Chinn earned her trip to Iowa based on her third place finish at last weekend's NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region finish at Hope College of Michigan. It marked Chinn's third straight All-Great Lakes Region finish (Top-35 runners). A year ago, she placed 117th at the Division III national meet, which BW was the host school. In addition, last spring, Chinn was the national runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in outdoor track to claim All-America acclaim in that sport.
"Kim ran a great race," said veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Dr. Bill Taraschke. "She competed to the best of her ability. As a coach, that is all you can ask of a student-athlete. We are so pleased for Kim and so proud of her effort, not only today and this season, but for the past four years. She exemplifies what is truly good about Division III athletics and the philosophy of the student-athlete."
"We thought that she could be in the Top-25, but she just ran a great race," said Taraschke again and with excitement. "When its a big meet, Kim steps up and runs well. She beat her arch-rival from Ohio Northern [Alison Steinbrunner] and Joanna Johnson [from Oberlin] and was the second Ohioan [behind 11th-place finisher Justine Jeroski of Case Western Reserve University] to finish the race. I am so proud of her."
"This is a good day," said a jubilant, but modest Chinn, who also is an outstanding student who carries a 3.7+ grade point average in the classroom. "I was excited all day and before the race, but now I'm tired."
"I didn't really have a plan," continued Chinn, "but I knew I wanted to run with Alison, Joanna and the Case [CWRU] girls and be among the top-20 for most of the race. I just figured if I could stay with the front of the pack and keep moving up as the race progressed that I would be in good shape. Then, I just gave it everything I had at the end."
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