Virginia graduate student Catherine White capped a sensational cross country season Saturday with a 22nd place finish at the USA Cross Country Championships 8k race in St. Louis. The two-time NCAA All-American and Roanoke native has already exhausted her four years of indoor track eligibility and instead opted to compete against 85 of the nation’s top runners unaffiliated.
This past fall, White finished second at the ACC Championships, fourth at the NCAA Southeast Regional, and 33rd at the NCAA National Championships to establish herself as the Cavaliers’ best runner and bookend a fantastic career in Charlottesville. After beginning her career at Arkansas in 2007 and winning the SEC title as a sophomore in 2008, White transferred to Virginia in 2009 and finished fourth overall in that season’s NCAA Championships.
However, she missed much of the next two years while struggling with her troublesome right ankle and had to apply this past summer for a sixth year of NCAA eligibility.
She will conclude her college career this spring, when she competes for the Cavaliers’ outdoor track and field squad.
—compiled by Fritz Metzinger