June 10, 2011

Complete Race Results

Post-race interview with Tara

DES MOINES, Iowa - Tara Erdmann concluded her spring outdoor track season with a 12th-place finish in the 5,000m on a wet Friday night at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa. By racing in the 10,000m on Wednesday and the 5,000m on Friday, Erdmann became the first LMU female track athlete to appear in two different events at the National Championships.

After a thunderstorm delayed the start of the race by more than an hour, Erdmann (Tucson, Ariz.) posted the fourth-fastest time in LMU history and her third sub-16 minute performance of the season. She narrowly missed her school-record time by finishing in 15:55.83, just 0.74 seconds behind Villanova's Bogdana Mimic in 11th place. The time was a mere five seconds outside the 15:50.20 Erdmann had run on May 1 at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.

The performance caps an outstanding 2010-11 calendar year for Erdmann, who placed 25th at the cross country nations and eighth in the 3,000m during the indoor track season to earn All-America honors in both sports. The 2010-11 LMU Female Athlete of the Year, Erdmann was also an All-American in outdoor track last year after finishing sixth in the 10,000m last June. In March, she ran the fastest 10,000m in the world in the year to that point, 33:10.15, which still ranks as the top time in Division I this season. In February, she was also honored for her achievements in the classroom by earning All-Academic honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.