| Height: | 5-0 |
| Year: | Sophomore |
| Hometown: | Canton, Ga. |
| High School: | Cherokee HS |
Welcomed to Tech in the 2014 cross country season where she was a consistent contributor in her roookie year...gained her foirst year of experience on the collegeiate track as a freshmam, and heads into her second season eyeing continued development after an injury limited her 2015 cross country season to just one meet.
AT TECH (IN 2015-16): Ran in just one meet during the cross country season, posting a 5K time of 21:33.67 at the Indiana Classic...missed the remainder of the season with an injury.
(IN 2014-15): Lera had a solid freshman season in cross country, placing in the top four for the Golden Eagle team in all six meets during the fall...posted a career-best 5K time of 20:13.07 at the OVC Championships when she place fourth on the squad and 63rd overall...had times under 21 minutes in the final four races of the year, establishing her initial career-best at Vanderbilt in 20:53.87...cut eight seconds off that time at the Greater Louisville Classic, then another four seconds at Florida State...Lera ran the 3,000m and 5,000m events during her rookie indoor season, and added the 1,500m outdoors to those two events, although nagging injuries limited her appearances...ran in every indoor meet, posting PR of 12:00.72 in the 3,000m at Vanderbilt...had a PR of 20:34.25 at East Tennessee in the 5,000m...only 3,000m race outdoors came in the opener at Vanderbilt, and only 1,500m race came the following week at Tennessee State...twice ran the 5,000m distance late in the year, with a PR of 20:17.55 at Arkansas State.
HIGH SCHOOL: Lera attended Creekview High School in Canton, Ga...well-rounded student-athlete, receiving awards in both athletics and academics...for academics, she received the President’s Education Award...for her athletic efforts, she received the Scholar-Athlete Gold Award...freshman year of high school she played soccer and was on the swim team...the rest of her high school career she stuck to cross country and track where she went to the Georgia state meet multiple years...received the Teammate Award twice...was named team co-captain, National Elite, and Top 10 County & Region...personal record for the 5K was 19:57...best in the mile was 5:48...her two-mile PR was 12:26 and the 800m was 2:43.
PERSONAL: Lera is the daughter of Paul and Kathy McNamara...full name is Valeria but prefers to be called Lera...was born March 25, 1995 in Feodosia, Ukraine...majoring in pre-physical therapy.
