Top 10 Stories of 2024-25 - #3 Tara Smurla Earns Cross Country All-America & USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year Honors
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian University is continuing its look back at its 2024-25 athletic campaign. The next entry in our second countdown of the summer – the Top 10 Stories of the Year selected by the athletic administration – is our No. 3 highlight – junior Tara Smurla earning All-America honors at the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships , winning the NCAA Division III Metro Regional and being named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Metro Region Female Athlete of the Year.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian University is continuing its look back at its 2024-25 athletic campaign. The next entry in our second countdown of the summer – the Top 10 Stories of the Year selected by the athletic administration – is our No. 3 highlight – junior Tara Smurla earning All-America honors at the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships, winning the NCAA Division III Metro Regional and being named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Metro Region Female Athlete of the Year.
On Saturday, November 23, Smurla competed in the national championship race for the second straight fall, this season in Terre Haute, Indiana hosted by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center. Smurla started the 6,000-meter race in 38th after the first 1,000 meters to be in All-America position as the top 40 runners earned the honor. Smurla ended up finishing 29th of the 290 runners in a PR time of 21:37.6. Smurla became the 13th women's cross country runner in program history to earn All-America accolades.
Read the original story on the national championships at https://www.moraviansports.com/sports/wxc/2024-25/releases/20241123jjdy2h.
The week prior to the championship meet, Smurla won the NCAA Division III Metro Regional individual title to become the second individual regional champion in program history, and she also was named the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Metro Region Female Athlete of the Year. Smurla is the first cross country Regional Athlete of the Year in program history.
Read the original story on the USTFCCCA honor at https://www.moraviansports.com/general/2024-25/releases/20241119shru2n.
The number two story in the countdown will be released on Friday, July 25.
