University of Tennessee Athletics
Blaase Named USTFCCCA South Region Athlete of Year
November 17, 2015 | Track & Field
NEW ORLEANS -- Tennessee senior Chelsea Blaase was named the NCAA Division I South Region Women's Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday, as voted on by the division's coaches.
Blaase, who was also named a Flo Performer by FloTrack, won the 2015 NCAA Cross Country South Regional Women's 6K on Nov. 13 to punch her second ticket to the NCAA Cross Country National Championships, which will be held on Nov. 21 at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. She ran a fantastic race, clocking in at 20:02.29 with a nine-second lead over the second-place finisher.
Blaase joined Brenda Webb (1977 AIAW Region 2 champion) and Sharon Dickie (2000 NCAA South Regional champion) as the only women in Tennessee history to qualify for nationals as a regional individual champion.
The senior from St. Joseph, Ill., emerged as one of the nation's elite distance runners in 2014 when she took 10th at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in in Terre Haute, Ind., to earn All-America honors. She has enjoyed a fantastic 2015 senior campaign, posting top-3 finishes in each race she has run with wins at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 3 and last week's victory at regionals.
She has posted 11 top 10 finishes and 10 top-3s over her last 11 races, with last year's NCAA Championships being her only non-top-3 in that stretch.
