Chrissa Trudelle ended her collegiate cross country career by accomplishing a goal she has chased for four years. The senior placed twenty-nine out of 331 runners at the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington to earn the title of NAIA All-American. She is just the seventh woman in Westmont history to garner the recognition.
“Chrissa’s performance may be one of the finest I have seen from a Westmont Athlete,” said Westmont head coach Russell Smelley. “From where she started as a freshman to now, has been a progression of becoming a national caliber athlete – first learning to believe in it and then accomplishing it. I couldn’t be prouder of her achievement. It is one of the great highlights of my coaching time at Westmont. No doubt about it.”
Last year, Trudelle finished fifty-fourth at nationals on the same course at the Fort Vancouver Historical Site. This year’s time of 18:32 in the 5,000 meter race is a 50 second improvement over last season.
“I felt focused the whole time on the people around me,” said Trudelle. “I didn’t think about the finishing time until I saw the clock at the end of the race. I was really pleased. I was hoping to run about 18:50 because I thought that would be a nice improvement from last year.”
Trudelle’s first experience competing at the national championship was in her freshman year in Kenosha, Wisconsin as part of the Westmont team that took seventeenth place. She finished one-hundred ninetieth that year as Westmont’s fifth runner.
“I’ve been thinking about (the goal of becoming a cross country All-American) since the plane ride back from (outdoor) track nationals in my freshman year when I talked about my goals for the next cross country season with Coach. Last year I knew it was possible, but I didn’t really think I could execute the plan. I wasn’t very confident in it. By the middle of this season, I knew it was an attainable goal.
“I was able to do quite a bit of training this past summer and a lot of hill work too. From the non-physical side, I am enjoying racing more. In other years, I was just getting through it.”
Nearly two weeks ago, Trudelle travelled with her coach to attend the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table weekly press luncheon. On her way, Smelley asked her what goal she had in mind for nationals. Trudelle replied that she would like to be in twenty-seventh in the final stretch of the race. Her words turnout out to be prophetic.
“At the 1,000 meter mark, I was probably in the sixties,” reported Trudelle. “At the mile mark I was (running) at about 5:45 and started consciously trying to pick up other runners. With about 2,000 meters to go, I was right around thirtieth and realized I would be able to do it if I kept going. With about 1,000 meters to go, I was in twenty-seventh and I was pretty confident I would get it with 600 meters to go. Things were stringing out a little bit. I was still in twenty-seventh with about 300 to go. I passed one person and got passed back by a few more on the last straight.”
The previous Westmont All-Americans in women’s cross country are Annaka Gustafson (’95, ’97, 98), Julie Hassan (’96), Stacia Larsen (86, ’89), Heather McDowell (’97), Miriam Niednagel (’93, ’94, ’95, ’96) and Anna Stumbo (’04, ’05, ’06, ’07).
Also competing at nationals was Jacob Jeanson. The sophomore finished sixty-fifth out of 326 runners, completing the 8,000 meter race in 26:11. The mark was 24 seconds faster than last year’s performance at nationals and an improvement of 42-places.
