LHU’s Klinger caps season at NCAA Women’s Cross Country Championships
JOPLIN, MO. – Senior-standout Elaina Klinger (Riverside, Pa./Danville) of the Lock Haven women’s cross country team closed the season at the 2023 NCAA Division II national championship meet, hosted today (Saturday, Nov. 18) by Missouri Southern State University on the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Missouri.
Klinger covered the 6K course in 21:11.4 and placed 69th out of 260 total finishers.
She earned the trip to the national championships by way of a brilliant individual effort at the 2023 NCAA DII Atlantic Region Championships, held on Lock Haven’s home course on Nov. 4. Klinger finished third overall (3rd/172) with a time of 20:37.9 (6K). The third-place finish at regionals matched the highest individual finish in school history.
It’s been an impressive postseason for the Bald Eagle. On Oct. 21, Klinger finished second at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championships.
For Klinger, it marked the second consecutive year where she closed the season on the sport’s biggest stage. She led the way for the Bald Eagles at the 2022 NCAA championships, placing 127th out of 262 runners. Last year, The Haven women qualified for the national championships as a team. It marked the just the second NCAA team championship appearance in school history.
Klinger is Lock Haven’s first individual NCAA championship qualifier since the Bald Eagles sent a pair of runners to compete individually at the 2019 national championship meet.
